DESCRIPTION:
One of the many great songs Ewan MacColl wrote for the BBC "radio ballads" with Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker. This is the main theme song of "Singing the Fishing", 1960, probably the best of this series of eight documentary programmes. It starred the real-life fisherman, Sam Larner, and this song is based on his life.

Lyrics and chords:
C ........................ F ...................... C
Oh, it was a fine and a pleasant day.
.................................................... G7
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
........ C ..... Dm Em ............ Am
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
........... C .......................... F ......... G7 C
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring.

Oh, the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bearing.
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring.

Oh we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank.
I was cook and I'd a quarter sharing
And I used to sleep standing on my feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring.

Oh, we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon were bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring.

Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman.
You can swear and show a manly bearing,
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
While you're searching for the shoals of herring.

In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring.
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're following the shoals of herring.

Oh, I earned my keep and I paid my way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing,
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes.
We were sailing after shoals of herring.

You can see a playlist of my Ewan MacColl songs here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=PL13C3631C4FEAFDC2

Lyrics and chords of many of my songs are no longer available, as my website has expired. I am currently posting lyrics to the information panels on all my videos and those that are too long to post in full will be found on my new website: https://raymondsfolkpage.wordpress.com