Merman, The

AKA Pretty fair maid with a tail
Blow ye winds aye-o
First Published 1866
Writer/composer A.L.C (William Makepeace Thackeray?) Roud RN1898

Music Hall Performers Arthur Lloyd
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Davids, RM; USA; no date (before 1930s)
unknown sailor; Wales: Gower; no date
Gillespie, James; Canada : Newfoundland; 1929
Anderson, Mrs. John; USA : Vermont; 1930
Moore, Annie Tate; USA : Maine; 1941
Peachey, Alf; England : Suffolk; 1960s
Power, Anthony; Canada : Newfoundland; 1975
Cleary, Thomas; Ireland : Co. Wexford; no date

Modern performances
Cyril Tawney, The Wolf Tones

 

Poets Box (Glasgow) 1873

Twas in the month of Janwery, away in the southern seas 
That our ship lay at anchor near a choral reef, awaiting for a breeze;
The captain, he was down below, and the men were lying about
When from under the bows we heard a splash and then a regular shout,

Singing— Blow ye winds, heave ho ! blow ye winds heave ho!
Clear away the morning dew, and blow ye winds, heave ho!

Man overboard did the watch cry out, and forward all of us ran,
When we saw hanging on by the best bower chain, a jolly old buff merman ;
His hair was red and his eyes were green, and his mouth was as big as three,
And his long green tail that he sat upon, was a wagging down in the sea.

Hallo! cried our mate, as bold as brass, what cheer mess-mate, says he,
Oh! I must speak to your noble captain, I've a favour to ask of he
The captain then he came on deck, and looked on the water blue
Come tell me, my man, and as fast as you can, what favour I can do for you.
 
You've dropped your anchor before my house, and blocked up my only door,
So my wife cant get out for to roam about, nor my chicks, one, two, three, four,
It would break your heart to hear them groan, and the row they've had with me,
For I've been out all night at a small tea fight, at the bottom of the deep blue sea.
 
Says the captain, the anchor shall be hove at once, and your wife and chicks set free,
But I never saw a scale from a sprat to a whale, till now, that could speak to me;
Your figure-head's like a sailor bold, and you speak like an English man,
But how did get such a wonderful tail, come tell me that it you can.
 
Oh! a long time ago, from the ship Hero, I fell overboard in a gale,
And I found down below, where the sea-weeds grow, a lovely girl with a tail,
She saved my life, so I made her my wife, and my legs changed instantly,
For I married with a mermaid*, at the bottom of the deep blue sea.


* Almost certainly sung: "For I mar-ri-ed with a mer-mi-ed" to echo Lloyd's "Married to a mermaid"

A song with a borrowed chorus, first sung with these verses in the Halls of the late 1860s.

Arthur Lloyd sang the song as a sequel to his Married to a Mermaid, a song widely credited to the prominent Victorian novelist William Thackeray. The sheet music and contemporary newspaper notices for The Merman say it was written the same author – so perhaps we can tentatively credit this one to Thackeray also?

As I have only been able to access the sheet music cover, the words given above are from an 1873 broadside. The opening stanza of the broadside is identical to that found on the cover of the sheet music (left).

Its one of a number of songs in Lloyd’s repertoire featuring Mer-folk that have passed into traditional singing. The others are The Man at the Nore, Married to a Mermaid and Goodbye John

 Apr. 29, 1866; The Era 

As Steve Gardham comments in one of the Mudcat threads below, the Blow ye wins chorus is a fairly common one and similar choruses can be heard in “later versions of the Baffled Knight and various shanties and sea songs”.

The song has been collected from traditional singers in Ireland, Canada, England and America. The order of the verses and the chorus vary but the basic story of sailor turned merman with anchor blocking his door, remain fairly constant throughout. It is a relatively well-known sea shanty, often listed with other songs under the name Blow ye Winds. In Stan Hugill’s Shanties from the Seven Seas its listed as Blow ye Winds (version b) with a chorus suggesting that you should Clear away yer runnin’ gear. Joanna Colcord in Songs of American Sailormen also lists it under Blow ye Winds, but has a diferent variation on the chorus, here are the first stanzas she collected:

Twas in the month of February way down in the Southern seas,
Our ship lay at anchor near a coral reef while waiting for a breeze;
Our captain he was down below, and the crew was lying about,
When under the bows was heard a splash, and then come a terrible shout

Singing, blow ye winds of the morning,
Blow ye winds heigh ho
Heave the galley overboard,
And chase the cook below-0w-0w,
Oh, blow ye winds of the morning,
Blow ye winds heigh ho,
Clear away the morning dew
And blow, my bully boys, blow

Joanna Colcord (1938) Songs of American Sailormen p193.

The Wolfe Tones recorded a significantly modified variant, again without the Blow ye winds chorus:

This Maine version from Castlebay Music is closer to Arthur Lloyd’s song:

Sources: