Poor old Paul Pengelly, a fisherman by trade His heart was pure and gentle, but one mistake he made He flirted with a mermaid out in Seaton Bay He watched her dance, and it all went wrong that day That morning, at the first light the seine boats put to sea The pilchard out there topping for all the world to see And as the men were netting the mermaid came to view He watched her dance, but he knew he shouldn't do It's the way of the ocean, the code of the sea The sound of the siren, the right of the free As the nets were gathered, the mermaid she was caught Along with twenty thousand fish, she struggled and she fought Pengelly to her rescue, he cut the siren free He watched her dance as she swam back out to sea But she cursed him for her capture, put a hex upon the land And as she rolled, her spell took hold and the town was deep in sand Poor old Paul Pengelly, he freed her from the net But she would drown old Seaton town, lest he should forget It's the way of the ocean, the code of the sea The sound of the siren, the right of the free