Married to a Mermaid

1. There was a gay young farmer,
Who liv'd on Salisbury plain;
He lov'd a rich Knight's daughter dear!
And she lov'd him again.
The Knight he was distressed,
That they should sweethearts be.
So he had the farmer soon pressed,
And sent him off to sea.
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves...

2. '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.
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves...

3. We lowered a boat to find him,
We thought to see his corse,
When up to the top he came with a bang,
And sang in a voice so hoarse,
'My 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.'
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves...

4. He said that 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.
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves...

5. 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.'
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves...

6. 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 went unto the ship's side,
And loudly bellowed he,
'Be happy as you can, my man,
At the bottom of the deep blue sea.'
Singing Rule Britannia,
Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves...


According to William Chappell's 'Popular Music of the Olden Time' Vol 2 pp 686-689, the tune was written by Dr Thomas Arne for the masque "Alfred" and given its first performance on August 1st, 1740. Says Chappell, 'The words of the masque were by Thomson & Mallett, but Thomson seems to have taken the lead in the affair, since, in newspapers of the day, he alone is mentioned as the author.'  

A music hall version was written by Arthur Lloyd and published in 1866. The cover is a famous one with Lloyd dressed as a sailor at the bottom of the sea greeting a pretty young mermaid.  It replaces the last line of the chorus with the line, "Brittons never never never shall be marr-i-ed to a Mer-ma-id at the bottom of the deep blue sea."  You'll find lots of choruses perfoming that version on Youtube.