The Shoals of Herring

With our nets and gear we're faring On the wild and wasteful ocean. Its there that we hunt and we earn our bread As we hunted for the shoals of herring O it was a fine and a pleasant day Out of Yarmouth harbor I was faring As a cabinboy on a sailing lugger For to go and hunt the shoals of herring O the work was hard and the hours 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 O 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 O we left the homegrounds in the month of June And to Canny Shiels we soon were bearing With a hundred cran of 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 O 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 --- The Shoals of Herring - Ewan MacColl