Bare Bobby - The Mermaid guitar tab

This was requested in the Cowpie newsletter, This was originally released on

Bobby Bare's album, Lullaby's Legends and Lies in 1973 written by Shel

Silverstein and Jim Friedman.

Dan Mooney - Portland, Oregon

[C]When I was a lad in a fishing town, an [F]old man said to [C]me,you can

[F]spend your [C]life, your [F]jolly life, just [D7]sailing on the [G7]sea,

you can [C]search the world for pretty girls, till your [F]eyes are weak and

[C]dim, but [F]don't go swimming with a [C]mermaid, son, if you [G7]don't

know how to [C]swim.

[C]Cause her [F]hair is green as [C]seaweed and her [F]skin is blue and

[C]pale, and I'll [F]tell you now be[C]fore you start, you can [F]love that

girl with [C]all your heart, but you're just gonna [G7]love the [C]upper

[F]part, you're [C]not gonna [G7]like the [C]tail.

[C]So I signed on with a whaling ship, and my [F]very first day at [C]sea, I

[F]seen a mermaid [C]in the waves a [D7]reaching out to [G7]me, come [C]live

with me in the sea said she, and [F]down on the ocean [C]floor, I'll [F]show

you a million [C]wondrous things, you've [G7]never seen be[C]fore.

[C]So over I jumped and she pulled me down, [F]down to her seaweed [C]bed,

and a [F]pillow made of [C]tortoise shell [D7]she placed beneath my

[G7]head, she [C]fed me shrimps and caviar, [F]upon a silver [C]dish, from

her [F]head to her waist she was [C]just my taste, but the [G7]rest of her

was a [C]fish.

Her [F]hair was green as [C]seaweed and her [F]skin was blue and [C]pale,

and her [F]face it was a [C]work of art,and I [F]loved that girl with [C]all

my heart, but I [F]only liked the [C]upper part, I [G7]did not like the

[C]tail.

[C]And then one day she swam away, and I [F]sang to the clams and [C]whales,

how I [F]missed her fins and her [C]seaweed hair, and the [D7]silvery shine

of her [G7]scales, but [C]then her sister, she swam by and [F]set my heart a

[C]whirl, cause her [F]upper part was an [C]ugly fish, but the [G7]bottom

part was a [C]girl.

[C]Her [F]toes are pink and [C]rosy, and her [F]knees are smooth and

[C]pale, and her [F]legs they are a [C]working part, and I [F]love that

girl with [C]all my heart, and I [F]don't give a damn about the [C]upper

part, and [G7]that's how I end my [C]tail.