I Wish I Was A Fish - song lyrics 
American Old-time song lyrics from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
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.