Friday, November 2, 2007

Sailor's Grave

My recent sea themed reading voyages (Life of Pi, Moby Dick, The Old Man and the Sea), reminded me of a song my dad always sang to me when I was little. I found the words so thought I'd share. But like any good sailor, I only sing when there's rum around.

The Mermaid

Twas Friday morn when we set sail
And we were not far from the land
When the captain, he spied a lovely mermaid
With a comb and a glass in her hand

O the ocean's waves will roll
And the stormy winds will blow
While we poor sailors go skipping to the top
And the landlubbers lie down below (below, below)
And the landlubbers lie down below

And up spoke the captain of our gallant ship
And a well-spoken man was he
I have me a wife in Salem by the sea
And tonight she a widow will be

And up spoke the cookie of our gallant ship
And a red hot cookie was he
Saying I care much more for my pots and my pans
Than I do for the bottom of the sea

Then up spoke the cabinboy, of our gallant ship
And a nasty little lad was he.
I'm not quite sure I can spell "mermaid"
But I'm going to the bottom of the sea.

Then three times around went our gallant ship
And three times around went she
Three times around went our gallant ship
And she sank to the bottom of the sea

Well if you liked that enough to read the whole thing, click this link and you can hear it: http://www.thebards.net/music/lyrics/The_Mermaid_Song.shtml