(Trad)
When I was a lad in a fishin' town 
Me 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 are 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, 
There reaching out to me 
"Come and 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 out 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 

(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 
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 bout the upper part 
'Cause that's how I get my tail