the mermaid lyrics

The Mermaid 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 searchin' for a mermaid, son
If you don't know how to swim"
(course)
'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
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 wonderous 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
(course)
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
An er 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 bout the upper part
'Cause that's how I get my tail