When I was a lad in a fishing town

Me old man said to me:

"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 searching for a mermaid, son

If you don't know how to swim"

'Cause 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 my heart

But I only liked the upper part

I did not like the tail



I signed onto a sailing ship

My very first day at sea

I seen the Mermaid in the waves,

Reaching out to me

"Come live with me in the sea said she,

Down on the ocean floor

And I'll show you a million wonderous things

You've never seen before

So over I jumped and she pulled me down,

Down to her seaweed bed

On a pillow made of a tortoise-shell

She placed beneath my head

She fed me shrimp and caviar

Upon a silver dish

From her head to her waist it was just my taste

But the rest of her was a fish

'Cause ...



But then one day, she swam away

So I sang to the clams and the whales

"Oh, how I miss her seaweed hair

And the silver shine of her scales

But then her sister, she swam by

And set my heart awhirl

Cause her upper part was an ugly fish

But her bottom part was a girl

Yes her hair was green as seaweed

Her skin was blue and pale

Her legs they are a work of art,

I loved that girl with all my heart

And I don't give a damn about the upper part

Cause that's how I get my tail.