American Old Time Song Lyrics: 17 I Wish I Was A Fish

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 17

I WISH I WAS A FISH.

Sweet Polly Primrose was a girl
Of nineteen Summers old,
I loved sweet Polly better far,
Than all the world untold;
And she was very fond of me,
But now I wail and weep.
For the girl I love's at present
At the bottom of the deep.

Chorus.
So, I wish I was a fish with a great long tail,
I wish I was a fish with a great big tail,
A tiny little tittle bat, a winkle or a whale,
At the bottom of the deep blue sea. Oh! my.

Sweet Polly was on board a ship,
And bound for Union Square,
When the vessel sighted "Tammany"
It began to pitch and rear;
My love was gazing over
At the water rolling by,
When, somehow, she tumbled overboard,
And never said good-bye.-Chorus.

The captain and his gallant crew
Jumped overboard to save
My darling Polly, but in vain,
She'd sunk beneath the wave;
And when they told me of her fate,
I'd tear my hair and weep.
And requested I might be allowed
To plunge into the deep.-Chorus.

I had a dream last night that I
Was down below the wave,
And there I saw my Polly
In a gorgeous coral cave;
She'd changed into a mermaid,
She'd such a splendid tail.
She was doing double shuffles,
In conjunction with a whale.-Chorus.

While she's a sportive mermaid,
I'm so wretched here above;
So I think I'll lake a plunge, and be
A merman with my love;
But the precise locality
I don't exactly know,
Where I may find my Polly,
So perhaps I'd best not go.-Chorus.