The Eddystone Light

(album: Down To The Sea In Ships - 1956)

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

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

One night while I was a-trimming of the glim
A-singing a verse from the evening hymn
A voice from the starboard shouted, "Ahoy!"
And there was my mother a-sitting on a buoy

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

"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"

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

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!"
Yo, ho, ho, the wind blows free, oh, for a life on the rolling sea