Song of The Fishes
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com
Come all you bold fishermen listen to me
While I sing to you a song of the sea
CHORUS after each verse...
Then blow ye winds westerly, westerly blow
We're bound to the southward, so steady we go
First comes the blue-fish a-wagging his tail,
He come up on the deck and yells all hands make sail
Next comes the eels with their nimble tails
They jumped up aloft and loosed all the sails
Next come the herrings with their little tails
The manned sheets and halyards and set all the sails
Next comes the porpoise with his short snout
He jumps on the bridge and yells ready about
Next comes the swordfish the scourge of the sea
The order he gives is Helm's a lee
Then comes the turbot as red as a beet
He shouts from the bridge stick out that foresheet
Having accomplished these wonderful feats
The blackfish sings out next to rise tacks and sheet
Next comes the whale the largest of all
Singing out from the bridge haul taut mainsail haul
Then comes the mackerel with his striped back
He flopped on the bridge and yelled board the main tack
Next comes the sprat the smallest of all
He sings out: haul well taut let go and haul
Then comes the catfish with his chuckle head
Out in the main chains for a heave of the lead
Next comes the flounder quite fresh from the ground
Crying damn your eyes chucklehead mind where you sound
Along came a dolphin flapping his tail
He yelled to the boatswain to reef the foresail
Along came the shark with his three rows of teeth
He flops on the foreyard and takes a snug reef
Up jumps the fisherman stalwart and grim
And with his big net he scooped them all in
The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.
