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The Edinburgh Mermaid

from Jane Bom​-​Bane's Songbook by Jane Bom-Bane

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about

This song tells the story of my friendship with a special lady called Celia, who lost her leg as a child and swam early each morning at the Victorian Glenogle Baths in the colourful and historic area of Stockbridge in Edinburgh.

lyrics

Underneath the bridge, beside the lazy stock
Along the cobbly ridge and round the stony clock
Down the shady steep, beneath the leafy domes
Below the chimney keep and opposite the homes
Through the swinging door and up the sunny stairs
Across the chequered floor and past the duty chairs
On the wooden ledge, inside the tiny space
Over to the edge - you've found the water place
Now can you see the welcoming and cheery face of
The Edinburgh Mermaid?

I said “How long you been a mermaid for?”
She said "I must've been eight I couldnae've been more -
I lost my leg in a jambed tram door
Without that, I would've been a walker
I said “But you swim, must be a mile each day
You sort of do your walking in a watery way
And you certainly make up for it, wouldn't you say,
By being quite a long distance talker?”
And I say this, friends, with a smile to my drift,
'Cause we talked as we swam every dawn like a gift.
So at dusk I had the air for my musical shift
Through… etc
Now do you think at all you could keep up with the pace of
The Edinburgh Mermaid?

There we both were like a pair of old trout
The more that we swam, the more we found out
Until we both sort of knew what the other was about -
There in the Glenogle Pool
We talked about parking and houses and friends
All about hobbies and musical trends
And how the water life begins where the city life ends -
Echo-y, floaty and cool
And, did you know, when she's not swimming there
On some other side of town she'II be swimming elsewhere
Her mer-mer music drifting through the Edinburgh air
Through…etc
Now would you like to float above the humanly race with
The Edinburgh Mermaid?

Since I last saw the mermaid, I heard she'd been ill
And had been quite poorly, I take it, until
She received a magnificent magical pill -
A mountain of letters that grew
From people in pools who go there to train
Or go to get wet, or to get out of the rain
Or to work or to help them to get over some strain -
Each stood in a post office queue
You see, they all missed the cheer she'd brim with
And somebody nice to grow healthy and slim with
But most of all someone they could talk to and swim with
I heard that it worked - she's back. Phew!
Through… etc
Now think of all the fishy-washy dreams you could chase with the Edinburgh Mermaid

credits

from Jane Bom​-​Bane's Songbook, released May 26, 2022
NP Appalachian dulcimer, acoustic guitar and viola
Pic Tom Walker

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Jane Bom-Bane image

Jane Bom-Bane Rogers, Arkansas

JB-B performs original songs & poems to the accompaniment of harmonium. She's played around & outside the country & with Linda Thompson, David Thomas, John Bradbury, Rich Hall & David Cunningham, appeared solo on Ch 4, BBC 2, STV, Russian State TV, R 1,2,3,4 & 5Live, R Scotland & written many musicals performed with Eliza Skelton, Daisy Jordan, Emma Kilbey, Kate Daisy Grant etc at Bom-Bane's cafe. ... more

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