The Mermaid- White (ME) 1926 Barry B
[From British Ballad From Maine; Barry et all; 1929. This was taken from, "a good old songster" but more likely a college song book, since the text with the extended verse fits those versions. White's basic Mermaid text was printed in the 1866 Selected Songs Sung at Harvard College: From 1862 to 1866; the 1868 Carmina Collegensia and 1876 The American College Songster.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
B. "The Mermaid." Taken down, January, 1926, from the singing of Capt. John T. White, Brewer, formerly of Prince Edward Island, who said he "learned it long ago on the Island from a good old songster." The air to which he sang it was the familiar college air.
1 On Friday morning as we set sail,
And the wind being wonderfully fair,
'Twas then I espied a pretty mermaid
With a comb and a glass in her hand, hand, hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand'
And the stormy winds do blow,
And the raging seas do roll,
And the poor sailors running round aloft,
And the landlubbers lying down below, below, below,
And the landlubbers lying down below.
2 Up jumps the captain of that good ship,
And a noble man was he,
Saying, "I have a wife in fair Jersey town,
And this night a widow she will be, be, be,
And this night a widow she will be."
3 Up jumps the mate of the good ship,
And a brave young man was he,
Saying, "I have a girl in fair Jersey town,
And this night she'll be looking for me, me, me,
And this night she'll be looking for me."
4 Up jumps the cook of our good ship,
And a brave young lad was he,
Saying, "I have a mother in fair Jersey town,
And this night she'll be weeping for me, me, me,
And this night she'll be weeping for me."
5 Three times round went our good ship,
And three times round went she,
And three times round went our good ship,
And she sunk in the bottom of the sea' sea, sea,
And she sunk in the bottom of the sea.