D
When I was a lad in a fishing town
    G              D
Me old man said to me:
          D                    Bm
"You can spend your life, your jolly life
      Em             A
Just sailing on the sea
         D
You can search the world for pretty girls
          G                F#m
Til your eyes are weak and dim
     G                        D        Bm
But don't go searching for a mermaid, son
        Em         A       D
If you don't know how to swim"

[Chorus]
            G                 D
'Cause her hair was green as seaweed
     G                 D
Her skin was blue and pale
     G             D
Her face it was a work of art
   G                    D
I loved that girl with all my heart
       G              D    Bm
But I only liked the upper part
   Em      A        D  
I did not like the tail
A D A D A   D G x2

[Verse 2]
   D
I signed onto a sailing ship
    G                 D
My very first day at sea
                   Bm
I seen the Mermaid in the waves
 Em             A
Reaching out to me
       D
"Come live with me in the sea said she
 G                 F#m
Down on the ocean floor
          G                  D         Bm
And I'll show you a million wondrous things
        Em    A      D
You've never seen before
    D
So over I jumped and she pulled me down
 G                   D
Down to her seaweed bed
                       Bm
On a pillow made of a tortoise-shell
     Em                 A
She placed beneath my head
     D
She fed me shrimp and caviar
  G            F#m
Upon a silver dish
          G                        D       Bm
From her head to her waist it was just my taste
         Em      A         D
But the rest of her was a fish

[Chorus]
            G                 D
'Cause her hair was green as seaweed
     G                 D
Her skin was blue and pale
     G             D
Her face it was a work of art
   G                    D
I loved that girl with all my heart
       G              D      Bm
But I only liked the upper part
   Em      A        D  
I did not like the tail
A D A D A   D G x5

[Verse 3]
     D
But then one day, she swam away
      G                          D
So I sang to the clams and the whales
                     Bm
"Oh, how I miss her seaweed hair
         Em                  A
And the silver shine of her scales
     D
But then her sister, she swam by
    G               F#m 
And set my heart awhirl
            G                  D    Bm
'Cause her upper part was an ugly fish
         Em      A         D
But her bottom part was a girl

[Chorus]
          G                 D
Yes, her hair was green as seaweed
     G                 D
Her skin was blue and pale
     G                D
Her legs they are a work of art
   G                   D
I love that girl with all my heart
       G                           D     Bm
And I don't give a damn 'bout the upper part
        Em       N.C.
'Cause that's how I gets my tail!