When I was a lad
in a fishing town
an old man said to me
Well you can spend your life
your jolly life
just sailing on the sea
You can search the world
for pretty girls
'til your eyes
are weak and dim
But don't go swimming
with a mermaid son
if you don't know
how to swim
'Cause her hair is green
as seaweed
Her skin is blue
and pale
I tell you now
before you start
You can love that girl
with all of your heart
but you're just
gonna love the upper part
You're not gonna
like the tail
I signed onto
a whaling ship
My very first day at sea
I seen a mermaid
in the waves
a-reaching out to me
Come live with me
in the sea said she
Down on the ocean floor
Why I'll show you
a million wonderous
things
you never seen before
Oh my
So over I jumped
and she pulled me down
Down to her seaweed bed
And the pillow made
of tortoise shells
she placed
'neath my head
She fed me shrimps
and caviar
upon a silver dish
From her head
to her waist
she was just my taste
but the rest
of a-her was a fish
Oh her hair was green
as seaweed
Her skin was
blue and pale
Her face it was
a work of art
I loved that girl
with all of my heart
But I only loved
the upper part
I did not like the tail
Then one day
she swam away
I sang to the clams
and the whales
How I missed her fins
and her seaweed hair
and that silvery shine
of her scales
But then her sister
she swam by
Set my heart awhirl
'Cause her upper part
was an ugly old fish
but her bottom part
was a girl
Oh her toes are pink
and rosy
Her knees are
smooth and pale
Her legs they are
a work of art
I love that girl
with all of my heart
I don't give a damn
about the upper part
and that's how
I end my tale