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Now my father was the keeper of the Eddystone light
And he married a mermaid one fine night
From this union there came three
Two of 'em was fishes and the other was me
Now when I was but a bit of a slip
I was put in charge of the Nore lightship
I kept my lamps in very good style
Doing of the work according to Hoyle:
Oh the raging Nore, the rolling Nore
The waves they tumble o'er and o'er
There's no such a life to be had on shore
As the one that's led by the Man at the Nore.
Well, one evening as I was a-trimming of the glim
Singing a verse from the Evening Hymn
I spied by the light of my signal lamp
The form of my mother looking awfully damp
Just then a voice cried out, Ahoy
And there she was just a-sitting on a buoy
That's meaning a buoy for the ships that sail
And not a boy that's a juvenile male:
Says I to my mother, Now how do you do
And how's my father and my sisters two?
Says she, It's an orph-i-an you are
You've only one sister and you've got no pa
Your father was drowned with sever-i-al pals
And digested by the cannibals
Of your sisters, one was cooked in a dish
The other one is kept as a talking fish:
Well, at that I wept like a soft-eyed scamp
My tears, they made the waters damp
Says I to my mother, Won't you step within
You look so wet, just to dry your skin
Says she, I likes the wet, my dear
Says I, Let me offer you the cabin chair
My mother, she looks at me with a frown
It's owing to my nature that I can't sit down:
Says my mother, Now never you go on shore
But always remain the Man at the Nore
With that, I caught a glittering scale
And that was the end of my mother's tale
Now in deference to this maternal wish
I can't visit my sister, the talking fish
So if you sees her when you gets on shore
Give her the regards of the Man at the Nore:
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