The Mermaid

Traditional, arr. by Great Big Sea

When I was a lad in a fishin' town

My old man said to me

You can spend your life, your jolly life

Just sailin' on the sea

You can search the world for pretty girls

Til your eyes grow weak and dim

But don't go searching for a mermaid, son

If you don't know how to swim

/ G C / - G / - C / D - / G C / Em Bm / C G / D G /

{refrain}

'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

I only liked the upper part

I did not like the tail

/ G C / - G / - C / G C / / D G /

I signed onto a sailing ship

My first very 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 wondrous things

you've never seen before

So over I jumped and she pulled me down,

Down to her seaweed bed

And a pillow made of 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

{refrain}

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

Set my heart a-whirl

'Cause her upper part was an ugly fish

An her bottom part was a girl

{as refrain}

Yes her hair was green as seaweed

Her skin was blue and pale

her legs they are a work of art

I love that girl with all my heart

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

'Cause that's how I get my tail