We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Mermaid (Song)

from The Demo Sessions by Fresh Off the Boat

/

lyrics

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
'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 loved that girl with all my heart
But I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail

Shipped on board a sailing ship
My very first 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 a tortoise-shell
She placed beneath my head
She fed me shrimp 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
'Cause ...

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
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
And her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her legs they are a work of art,
I loved 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.

credits

from The Demo Sessions, released February 14, 2015
Written and originally recorded by Shel Silverstein. The lyrics were also published in Playboy in 1966.

license

tags

about

Fresh Off the Boat Sydney, Australia

What do you get when you ask a Canadian, a Kiwi, and a couple of Aussie blokes to play traditional Irish music? With a broad range of instrumentation, Fresh Off the Boat brings you music from everywhere the Irish call home. Join us for jigs, reels, shanties, ballads, airs, and a few surprises too! ... more

contact / help

Contact Fresh Off the Boat

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Fresh Off the Boat, you may also like: