Motley Words

‘Twas on the deep Atlantic,
Midst Equinoctial gales;
This young farmer fell overboard
Among the sharks and whales;
He disappeared so quickly,
So headlong down went he,
That he went out of sight
Like a streak of light
To the bottom of the deep blue sea.
(chorus)
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rule the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be
marr-i-ed to a mer- mi- ed
at the bottom of the deep blue sea

We lowered a boat to find him,
We thought to see his corpse,
When up to the top he came with a bang,
And sang in a voice so hoarse,
‘Me comrades and my messmates,
Oh, do not weep for me,
For I’m married to a mermaid,
At the bottom of the deep blue sea.‘
(Chorus)

He said as he went down,
Great fishes he did see;
They seemed to think as he did wink,
That he was rather free.
But down he went so quickly,
Saying, ”Tis all up with me,’
When he met a lovely mermaid
At the bottom of the deep blue sea.
(Chorus)

She came at once unto him,
And gave him her white hand,
Saying, ‘I have waited long, my dear,
To welcome you to land.
Go to your ship and tell them,
You’ll leave them all for me;
For you’re married to a mermaid
At the bottom of the deep blue sea.’
Chorus

The wind was fair, the sails set,
The ship was running free;
When we all went to the captain bold,
And told what we did see.
He said you must be bonkers,
You must be kidding me,
There’s no such thing as a mermaid,
You’ve been too long at sea!
Chorus x 2