Eddystone Light

Oh, my father was the keeper of the Eddystone light;
He slept with 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 as I was a-trimming of the glim,
A-singing a verse of the evening hymn,
A voice from the starboard shouted, "Ahoy!"
And there was me mother a-sittin' on a buoy.

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free;
Oh for a life on the rolling sea.

"Oh what has become of me children three?"
My mother then she asked of me.
One was exhibited as a talking fish,
The other was served in a chafing dish.

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free;
Oh for a life on the rolling sea.

The phosphorus flashed in her seaweed hair;
He looked again, and his mother wasn't there.
A voice came echoing out of the night:
"The hell with the keeper of the Eddystone light!"

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free;
Oh for a life on the rolling sea.