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The Keeper of the Eddystone Light

The first lighthouse was built at Eddystone Rocks, a reef south of Plymouth England, in 1698. This song refers to the fourth lighthouse, built by James Smeaton between 1756 and 1759. That lighthouse stood for 127 years. Cracks at the base eventually caused another to be built. The Smeaton lighthouse was dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe.  Sandra's maternal family fished out of Plymouth and came to rely on the  light to show them the way home.

Sandra sings it now and brings the party to an end.

My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light
And he slept with a mermaid one fine night
Out of this union there came three
A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me!
Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh for the life on the rolling sea!

One night, as I was a-trimming the glim
Singing a verse from the evening hymn
I head a voice cry out an "Ahoy!"
And there was my mother, sitting on a buoy.
Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh for the life on the rolling sea!

"Oh, what has become of my children three?"
My mother then inquired of me.
One's on exhibit as a talking fish
The other was served in a chafing dish.
Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh for the life on the rolling sea!

Then the phosphorus flashed in her seaweed hair.
I looked again, and my mother wasn't there
But her voice came angrily out of the night
"To Hell with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!"
Yo ho ho, the wind blows free,
Oh for the life on the rolling sea!

With thanks to Lesley Nelson-Burns for the information and she is also the creator of the midi file.