The Mermaid

(album: Sings Lullabys, Legends And Lies - 1973)

When I was a lad in a fishing town an 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 till your eyes're 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 and her skin is blue and pale
And I tell you now before you start you can love that girl with all your heart
But you're just gonna love the upper part you're not gonna like the tail.

So I signed onto a whaling ship and 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 and down on the ocean's floor
I'll show you a million wonderous things you never seen before.

So over I jumped and she pulled me down down to her seaweed bed
And the pillow made of tortoise shell she placed beneath 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 her was a fish.

Her hair was green as seaweed and her skin was blue and pale
And her face it was a work of art and I loved that girl with all my heart
But I only loved the upper part I did not like the tail.

Then one day she swam away and I sang to the clams and whales
I missed her fins and her seaweed hair and the silvery shine of her scales
Then her sister she swam by and set my heart awhirl
Cause her upper part was an ugly fish but the bottom part was a girl.

Yeah her toes are pink and rosy and her knees are smooth and pale
And her legs they are a work of art and I love that girl with all my heart
I don't give a damn 'bout the upper part and that's how I end my tale...