My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light;
He courted a mermaid one fine night
From this union there came three:
A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me
Yo-ho-ho! The wind blows free!
Oh, for a life on the rolling sea!
One night while I was trimmin' of the glim
Singin' the verse from the evening hymn
A voice from the starboard shouted, «Ahoy!»
And there was me mother a-sittin' on the buoy
«Don't be ridiculous, a boy is a juvenile male.»
«No, a buoy, it guides the ships to sail.»
«Tell me what has become of my children three?»
My mother then she asked of me
«One was exhibited as a talking fish
And the other was served on a chafing dish.»
Yo-ho-ho! The wind blows free!
Oh, for a life on the rolling sea!
Then the phosphorus flashed in her seaweed hair;
I looked again, me mother wasn’t there
A voice came a-echoing out of the night
«To the devil with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!»
Yo-ho-ho! The wind blows free!
Oh, for a life on the rolling sea!