A                                      D               A
When I was a lad in a fishin' town, an old man said to me
         D          A          D     A          B              E
"You can spend your life, your jolly life, just sailin' on the sea
        A                                           D
You can search the world for pretty girls 'til your eyes are weak and dim
    D                        A                    E                 A
But don't go swimmin' with a mermaid, son, if you don't know how to swim!

[Verse 1]
      A                                     D                 A
Well, I signed on to a whalin' ship, and my very first day at sea
  D      A       D      A        B               E
I seen a mermaid in the waves, a-reachin' out to me
      A                                        D
"Come live with me in the sea," said she, "and down on the ocean's floor
     D                  A                            E          A
I'll show you a million wond'rous things that you've never seen before!"

[Verse 2]
     A                                D                   A
Over I jumped and she pulled me down, down to her seaweed bed
        D      A       D        A           B                 E
Where a pillow made of tortoise shells, she placed beneath my head
    A                         D
She fed me shrimps and caviar upon a silver dish
         D                         A                      E               A
From her head to her waste she was just my taste, but the rest of her was fish!

[Chorus]
        D                 A
And her hair was green as seaweed
        D                 A
And her skin was blue and pale
        D             A
And her face it was a work of art
      D                    A
And I loved that girl with all of my heart
      A    B     Db  D
But I only loved the upper part
  A       E        A
I did not love the tail!

[Verse 3]
A                                 D                         A
Then one day she swam away, and I sang to the clams and the whales
      D          A             D       A             B                    E
How I missed her fins, and her seaweed hair, and the silvery shine of her scales
A                            D
Then her sister swam by, and set my heart a-whirl
         D                 A                  E               A
'Cuz her upper part was an ugly fish, but the bottom part was GIRL!

[Chorus]
        D                 A
And her toes are pink and rosey
        D                  A
And her knees are soft and pale
        D                 A
And her legs they are - a work of art
      D                   A
And I love that girl with all my heart
  A            B              Db    D
I don't give a damn about the upper part
    A            E      A
And that's how I end my tale!