Now my father was the keeper of the Eddystone light
And he married a mermaid one fine night
From this union there came three
Two of them were fishes and the other was me
Now when I was but a bit of a slip
I was put in charge of the Nore lightship
I kept my lamps in very fine style
Doing of the work according to Hoyle

Oh the raging Nore, the rolling Nore
The waves they tumble o'er and o'er
There's no such a life to be had on shore
As the one that's led by the Man at the Nore

Well, one evening as I was a-trimming of the glim
Singing a verse from the Evening Hymn
I spied by the light of my signal lamp
The form of my mother looking awfully damp
Just then a voice cried out, Ahoy
And there she was just a-sitting on a buoy
That's meaning a buoy for the ships that sail
And not a boy that's a juvenile male

Oh the raging Nore, the rolling Nore
The waves they tumble o'er and o'er
There's no such a life to be had on shore
As the one that's led by the Man at the Nore

Says I to my mother, "Now how do you do
And how's my father and my sisters two"
Says she, "It's an orph-i-an you are
You've only one sister and you've got no pa
Your father was drowned with sever-i-al pals
And digested by the cannibals
Of your sisters, one was cooked in a dish
The other one is kept as a talking fish"

Oh the raging Nore, the rolling Nore
The waves they tumble o'er and o'er
There's no such a life to be had on shore
As the one that's led by the Man at the Nore

Well, at that I wept like a soft-eyed scamp
My tears, they made the waters damp
Says I to my mother, "Won't you step within
You look so wet, just to dry your skin"
Says she, "I likes the wet, my dear"
Says I, "Let me offer you the cabin chair"
My mother, she looks at me with a frown
"It's owing to my nature that I can't sit down"

Oh the raging Nore, the rolling Nore
The waves they tumble o'er and o'er
There's no such a life to be had on shore
As the one that's led by the Man at the Nore

Says my mother, "Now never you go on shore
But always remain the Man at the Nore"
With that, I caught a glittering scale
And that was the end of my mother's tale
Now in deference to this maternal wish
I can't visit my sister, the talking fish
So if you ever sees her when you gets on shore
Just give her the regards of the Man at the Nore