Malcolm Menzies & Len Neary - Shoals Of Herring

from The People Have Songs - Volume 1 by Various Artists

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about

I have liked this song since I first heard it sung by Jim Jarvis. A song of the sea, it’s power and benevolence and of the men that worked along the English coastline forty to fifty years ago, from boyhood to manhood to old age, the fishermen who chased after and sometimes caught the silver herring. - Malcolm Menzies

lyrics

With our nets and gear we’re faring
On the wild and wasteful ocean
It’s out there on the deep
That we harvest and reap our bread
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring

Oh it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
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 for 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 following 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
While 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

Day and night the sea we’re daring
Come wind come hail or winter’s gale
Sweating and cold, growing up
Growing old and dying
As we hunt the bonnie shoals of herring

credits

from The People Have Songs - Volume 1, released August 12, 2020
by Ewan McColl
sung by Malcolm Menzies & Len Neary
guitar by Malcolm Menzies

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Miguel Heatwole image

Miguel Heatwole Sydney, Australia

Miguel’s a versatile singer, choral director & composer. His interests include folk & world music, political satire, the environment, trade unionism & the responsible enjoyment of alcohol. His songwriting embraces themes like peace & justice, the family cat, & visceral passionate attraction. His enthusiasm for recording community singing has let many people share the power of their songs. ... more

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