Great Big Sea - The Mermaid lyrics

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