Oh, my father was the keeper of the eddystone light And he slept with a mermaid one fine night. From this union there sprang three, A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me. Yo ho ho, the wind blows free, ho for the life on the rolling sea One night when I was a-trimmin' of the glim Singin' a verse from the evening hymn A voice from the starboard shouted, "Ahoy!" And there was my mother a-sittin' on the buoy Yo ho ho, the wind blows free, ho for the life on the rolling sea
"Oh what has become of my children three?" Me 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, ho for the life on the rolling sea The phosporus flashed in her seaweed hair I looked again, and my mother wasn't there But her voice came an echoing back through the night: "To hell with the keeper of the Eddystone light!"