Ballad of the Maytime Mermaids

• Words & Music: Camilla Cancantata
• Start note: low G
• Arranged by: Jane Lewis

1. ’Twas on a love­ly sum­mer night,
   the loch was smooth and calm.
   Three women got into a boat,
   prepar­ing to disarm.
   They took an angle grinder,
   some hack­saws and a drill
   and wait­ed for the moment
   when all around was still.

Cho­rus:
Dis­arm, dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
uphold­ing inter­na­tion­al law,
we sail off to disarm.

2. They got a lit­tle ner­vous when
   the engine would­n’t start.
   Luck­i­ly it came to life
   and so they could depart.
   Ang­ie navigated,
   slight­ly red and hot,
   but soon they crossed the water
   and reached their cho­sen spot.

Cho­rus:
Dis­arm, dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
to end the threat of nuclear crime
we sail off to disarm.

3. They reached the May­time base,
   no police or guards were there.
   For three long hours they worked away,
   and stripped the whole place bare.
   With the last com­put­er overboard,
   they took a well earned rest,
   had their pic­nic and waited,
   know­ing they’d done their best.

Cho­rus:
Dis­arm, dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
jus­tice will be done,
as we sail off to disarm.

4. Such dan­ger­ous women
   could not be giv­en bail,
   for five long months they languished
   in drea­ry Corn­ton Vale.
   But when at last they came to court,
   judge and jury did agree
   nuclear weapons are illegal -
   and they set the women free.

Cho­rus:
Dis­arm, dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
it is not a crime
to peace­ful­ly disarm.

5. And now a strange new habi­tat has formed
   for crea­tures down below.
   Round fax machines and modems,
   the wav­ing weeds do grow.
   The jel­ly­fish are singing,
   the women can take heart
   in trans­form­ing the nuclear mil­i­tary threat,
   at least they’ve made a start.

Cho­rus:
Dis­arm, dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
dis­arm, dis­arm, disarm,
trans­form­ing weapons into life,
we peace­ful­ly disarm.

• Bal­lad of the May­time Mer­maids nota­tion (PDF)
• May­time Mer­maids tune (mp3)
• May­time Mer­maids (cho­rus alto) (mp3)
• May­time Mer­maids (tenor) (mp3)
• May­time Mer­maids bass (mp3)

Notes

In 1999 Ellen Mox­ley, Ulla Röder and Ang­ie Zel­ter went on to ‘May­time’, an acoustic research barge in Loch Goil, Scot­land and threw over­board com­put­ers and equip­ment relat­ing to the Tri­dent nuclear sub­marines caus­ing £80,000 worth of dam­age. Their defence that they were act­ing to pre­vent the crime of prepa­ra­tions for mass mur­der was accept­ed in court, and the pre­sid­ing judge, Sher­iff Gim­blett, instruct­ed the jury to find them not guilty.

The song is by Camil­la Can­can­ta­ta (www.littleweed-music.org). She also wrote the Wash­ing Line song, No More Shop­ping and the Human Rights Round, among many others!