Rattlefish Project

One morning, sometime around the end of 1929 John Hurt found an envelope containing 22 song lyrics in his letterbox. They were sent by their author, W.E. Myer, who was the owner of a small record company called The Lonesome Ace. Myer suggested that John put the lyrics to tunes: they were planning to release the songs under The Lonesome Ace label. A special request of Myers was that John made use of a Jimmy Rodgers song, Waiting For A train. John did so, and although due to Myer’s illness the numbers weren’t published then, the result, Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me was still a part of John Hurt’s repertoire in the sixties. The story appears in Philip R. Ratcliffe’s book: Mississippi John Hurt, his Life, his Times, his Blues

Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me 

Blues all on the ocean, blues all in the air, 
I can’t stay here no longer, got no steamship fare, 
When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea, 
Save all the undertaker’s bill, let the mermaids flirt with me. 

My wife controls our happy home, a sweetheart I cannot find, 
The only thing I can call my own is a troubled and a worried mind, 
When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea, 
Save all the undertaker’s bill, let the mermaids flirt with me. 

I do not work for pleasure, earthly peace I’ll see no more, 
The only reason I work at all is to drive the wolf from my door, 
When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea, 
Save all the undertaker’s bill, let the mermaids flirt with me. 

Blues all in my body, my darling has forsaken me, 
If I ever see her face again, I’ll have to swim across the sea, 
When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea, 
Save all the undertaker’s bill, let the mermaids flirt with me.

A song from Mississippi John Hurt. 

Dávid Ongjerth - mandolin, vocal 
Mátyás Sain - harmonica, video 
Milán Bajovics – video