The Mermaid Song - Bobby Bare (Bobby Bare)

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

Till your eyes're weak and dim

But don't go swimming with a mermaid son

If you don't know how to swim

'Cause her hair is green as seaweed

And her skin is blue and pale

And I tell you now before you start

You can love that girl with all your heart

But you're just gonna love the upper part

You're not gonna like the tail

So I signed onto a whaling ship

And 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

And down on the ocean's floor

I'll show you a million wonderous things

You never seen before

So over I jumped and she pulled me down

Down to her seaweed bed

And the pillow made of tortoise shell

She placed beneath my head

She fed me shrimps 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

Her hair was green as seaweed

And her skin was blue and pale

And her face it was a work of art

I loved that girl with all my heart

But I only loved the upper part

I did not like the tail

Then one day she swam away

And I sang to the clams and whales

I missed her fins and her seaweed hair

And the silvery shine of her scales

But then her sister she swam by

And set my heart awhirl

Cause her upper part was an ugly fish

But her bottom part was a girl

Her toes are pink and rosy

And her knees are smooth and pale

And her legs they are a work of art

And I love that girl with all my heart

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

And that's how I end my tale