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