The clip opens with a parody of one of Bon Jovi's immortal openings - "Cracked in the hull, and you're to blame, captain you gave the coastline, a bad stain" - and closes with a tongue-in-cheek spoof of the Macarena as Currin smashes the wrecked ship in anger with his ukulele.
The 37-year-old believed many Bay of Plenty residents would empathise with the dance anthem's altered chorus - F*** the Rena. "We were all working really hard - Tauranga City Council staff, regional council staff, Maritime New Zealand staff - there was a lot of stress ... it was emotional too, for everyone on the beach, and I just wanted to vent," Currin said.
"It was an exhausting time, there was a ukulele nearby and the song evolved as a kind of after-hours therapy."
He finished the song - which Maritime New Zealand staff have already aired at a few meetings - in November but its companion video was released yesterday.
The song's release comes after the Rena's captain, Mauro Balomaga, 44, was sent to jail along with his navigational officer on Friday.
"I was surprised he got only seven months, but I'm happy to trust that the judge had a more balanced, broader picture to consider. I'm not angry at any person in particular, just the situation," Currin said.
"It's not a protest song about anything that anyone's done ... It's just that we are all frustrated by the Rena sometimes and you've got to have a bit of a laugh to get that perspective and to get through."
Watch 'Rena versus the Ukulele' (clean version) here:
