My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light;
He courted 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 while I was trimmin' of the glim
Singin' the verse from the evening hymn
A voice from the starboard shouted, "Ahoy!"
And there was me mother a-sittin' on the buoy
"Don't be ridiculous, a boy is a juvenile male."
"No, a buoy, it guides the ships to sail."

"Tell me what has become of my children three?"
My mother then she asked of me
"One was exhibited as a talking fish
And the other was served on a chafing dish."

Yo-ho-ho! The wind blows free!
Oh, for a life on the rolling sea!

Then the phosphorus flashed in her seaweed hair;
I looked again, me mother wasn't there
A voice came a-echoing out of the night
"To the devil with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!"
Yo-ho-ho! The wind blows free!
Oh, for a life on the rolling sea!