Mermaid Smiled Lyrics - Andy Partridge

From pools of xylophone clear 

From caves of memory 

I saw the children at heart 

That we once used to be 

Borne on foaming seahorse herd 

Compose with trumpeting shell 

From lines across their hands 

A song as new as new moon 

As old as all the sands 

Shrank to stagnant from Atlantic wild 

Lost that child 'til mermaid 

Smiled 

Summoned by drum rolling surf 

As laughing fish compel 

The young boy woken in me 

By clanging diving bell 

Breakers pillow fight the shore 

She wriggles free in the tide 

I'm locked in adult land 

Back in the mirror she slides 

Waving with comb in hand 

I was lucky to remain beguiled 

Grown to child since mermaid 

Smiled