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!