This was requested in the Cowpie newsletter, This was originally released on
Bobby Bare's album, Lullaby's Legends and Lies in 1973 written by Shel
Silverstein and Jim Friedman.
Dan Mooney - Portland, Oregon

[C]When I was a lad in a fishing town, an [F]old man said to [C]me,you can
[F]spend your [C]life, your [F]jolly life, just [D7]sailing on the [G7]sea,
you can [C]search the world for pretty girls, till your [F]eyes are weak and
[C]dim, but [F]don't go swimming with a [C]mermaid, son, if you [G7]don't
know how to [C]swim.

[C]Cause her [F]hair is green as [C]seaweed and her [F]skin is blue and
[C]pale, and I'll [F]tell you now be[C]fore you start, you can [F]love that
girl with [C]all your heart, but you're just gonna [G7]love the [C]upper
[F]part, you're [C]not gonna [G7]like the [C]tail.

[C]So I signed on with a whaling ship, and my [F]very first day at [C]sea, I
[F]seen a mermaid [C]in the waves a [D7]reaching out to [G7]me, come [C]live
with me in the sea said she, and [F]down on the ocean [C]floor, I'll [F]show
you a million [C]wondrous things, you've [G7]never seen be[C]fore.

[C]So over I jumped and she pulled me down, [F]down to her seaweed [C]bed,
and a [F]pillow made of [C]tortoise shell [D7]she placed beneath my
[G7]head, she [C]fed me shrimps and caviar, [F]upon a silver [C]dish, from
her [F]head to her waist she was [C]just my taste, but the [G7]rest of her
was a [C]fish.

Her [F]hair was green as [C]seaweed and her [F]skin was blue and [C]pale,
and her [F]face it was a [C]work of art,and I [F]loved that girl with [C]all
my heart, but I [F]only liked the [C]upper part, I [G7]did not like the
[C]tail.

[C]And then one day she swam away, and I [F]sang to the clams and [C]whales,
how I [F]missed her fins and her [C]seaweed hair, and the [D7]silvery shine
of her [G7]scales, but [C]then her sister, she swam by and [F]set my heart a
[C]whirl, cause her [F]upper part was an [C]ugly fish, but the [G7]bottom
part was a [C]girl.

[C]Her [F]toes are pink and [C]rosy, and her [F]knees are smooth and
[C]pale, and her [F]legs they are a [C]working part, and I   [F]love that
girl with [C]all my heart, and I [F]don't give a damn about the [C]upper
part, and [G7]that's how I end my [C]tail.