Burl Ives - The Eddystone light



My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light 

And he slept with a mermaid one fine night. 

From this union there came three, 

A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me. 



Chorus: Yo, ho, ho, the wind blows free: oh, for a life on the rolling sea. 



One night while I was a-trimmin' of the glim 

A-singin' a verse from the evening hymn, 

A voice from the starboard shouted, “Ahoy!” 

And there was my mother a-sittin' on a buoy. 



“Oh, what has become of my children three?” 

My mother then she asked of me 

“One was exhibited as a talking fish 

And the other was served in a chafing dish.” 



Then the phosphorus flashed in her seaweed hair; 

I looked again, and my mother wasn't there. 

A voice come a-echoing out through the night: 

“To Hell with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!”