Keepers of the Song

From the June 13 Metropolitan Diary in the New York Times

After showing an apartment to a prospective buyer, I walked east on 11th Street to return to my office. Two men were walking toward me, engaged in conversation, and as we passed each other, I heard these words:

“My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light.”

Slowly the words began to register, and when I was a few paces past them, I turned and said, loud enough to make sure they could hear,

“And he married a mermaid one fine night.”

The men slowed. One of them turned, looked at me with a cautious expression and responded,

“From this union there came three.”

To which I replied, with the last line of the first verse of this old sea chantey,

“A porpoise, a porgy and the other was me!”

We both started laughing, introduced ourselves and compared notes on our introduction to this song.

Mine was from my old folk music days and his, more appropriately, sung on the ships he tended in the merchant marine.--Michael Raab

The Eddystone Light
Yo ho, Here's a tale
That's fair and dear to the hearts of those that sail
'Bout a lighthouse keeper and his bare faced wife
Who joined together for a different life
Yo ho, The winds and water tell the tale

My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light
He married a mermaid one fine night
From this union there came three
A porpoise and a porgy and the other one me!

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh, for the life on the rolling sea!

Late one night, I was a-trimming of the glim
While singing a verse from the evening hymn
A voice on the starboard shouted "Ahoy!"
And there was my mother, a-sitting on a buoy.

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh, for the life on the rolling sea!

"Tell me what has become of my children three?"
My mother she did asked of me.
One was exhibited as a talking fish
The other was served on a chafing dish.

Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh, for the life on the rolling sea!

Then the phosphorous flashed in her seaweed hair.
I looked again, and me mother wasn't there
A voice came echoing out from the night
"To Hell with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!"

The below video has the song as done by The Weavers, and scrolling lyrics rife with errant homonyms.