DESCRIPTION:
Here's the song I wrote about my inspiring meeting of the kind old fisherman and great netmaker Chas Laide in Ballyduff, County Kerry. It was part of my songwriting visit to Ireland in Ballyfeale, Co. Limerick.

Lyrics:

I met an old fisherman who lives on the shore
He used to go fishing for salmon and more
On Cashen's rich waters so often he rowed
And pulled in his nets with a mighty load

Chas Laide is his name and he's born and bred
Where the river meanders through a wide sandy bed
In a little white cottage right next to his school
He learned how to handle the netmaking tool.

He lives and he works with the rhythm of the tides
He reads from the water and sees what it hides
The seasons define the nature of his trade
I never met a man so in place like Chas Laide

But there's hardly a salmon surviving the times
Of the upscaling industry's natural crimes
The fisherman knows but his time is not long
And he hums Wild Blackberries, his favourite song

Now he goes for the oyster banks out on the sea
And he tells you his stories with a hot cup of tea
He teaches you knotting the nets for a while
If you ever meet Chas you'll come out with a smile.

On board the Cashen Heather when the tide is high
He sails the deep waters beneath the blue sky
The seagulls that follow him out on the sea
Know this is a fisherman born to be free

Chords:
D D D D
D G C D
D G C A
D G C D