Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me
(Mississippi John Hurt Hurt – music W. E. Myers – lyrics)
1929
Blues out on the ocean, blues all in the air.
Can’t stay here much longer, I got no steamship fare.
When my earthly trials are over,
cast my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker’s bills,
let the mermaids flirt with me.
My wife controls my happy home,
a sweetheart I can not find.
The only thing I can call my own,
is a troubled and a worried mind.
When my earthly trials are over,
cast my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker’s bills,
let the mermaids flirt with me.
I do not work for pleasure,
earthly peace I’ll see no more.
The only reason I work at all, is
drive the world from my door.
When my earthly trials are over,
cast my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker’s bills,
let the mermaids flirt with me.
Blues all in my body, my sweetheart’s forsaken me.
If I ever see her face again,
I have to swim across the sea.
When my earthly trials are over,
cast my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker’s bills,
let the mermaids flirt with me.
Blues out on the ocean, blues all in the air.
Can’t stay here no longer, I got no steamship fare.
When my earthly trials are over,
cast my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker’s bills,
let the mermaids flirt with me.
Save all the undertaker’s bills,
let the mermaids flirt with me.
Hearing Hurt’s 1928 recordings, W. E. Myers sent Hurt twenty-two sets of lyrics for songs and asked him to set them to music for upcoming recordings. He also sent Hurt a 78 r.p.m. record of Jimmie Rodgers’ Waiting For A Train, and suggested the melody might be good for one of the songs. This is that song.