Then there's Mississippi John Hurt's mermaid song:

LET THE MERMAIDS FLIRT WITH ME (Key of C)

C         G       C   
Blues all on the ocean

F                C
Blues all in the air

F                  C   
Can't stay here no longer

G               G7
Have no steamship fare

(CHORUS:)
       C       G         C   
When my earthly trials are over

       F               C   
Cast my body out in the sea

F                C            
Save all the undertaker bills

       G                   C
Let the mermaids flirt with me


Wife controls our unhappy home**
My sweetheart I cannot find
The only thing that I can call my own is a
Troubled and a worried mind

(Repeat Chorus)

I do not work for pleasure
Earthly peace, I'll see no more***
The onliest reason I work at all is
Drive the wolf from my door


(Repeat Chorus)

Blues all in my body,
My darlin' has forsaken me
If I ever want to see her face again
I have to swim across the see

**(In some versions, it sounds as though Hurt sang "My wife controls our happy home")

***( Alternate; "As to peace, I'll see no more")