6/4 time
|
C
|
1. O, it was a fine and a plea - sant day
|
G
|
out of yar - mouth har-bour I was far - ing
|
C G (F) (G) C
|
as a cab - in boy on a sail - ing lug - ger
|
F G7
|
for to go and hunt the shoals of her - ring
|
|
2. O, 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
|
|
3. O, we finished 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 shaols of herring
|
|
4. O, 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
|
|
5. Now your 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
|
|
6. In the stormy seas and the living gales
|
just to earn your daily bread your daring
|
from the dover straits to the faroe islands,
|
as your following the shoals of herring
|
|
7. O, I earned me keep and I paid me way
|
and I eaned the gear I was wearing
|
sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes
|
we were sailing after shoals of herring
|
|
(The original radio version had a different first verse which has a
|
slightly different melody it goes as follows)
|
|
4/4 time
|
|
C
|
With our nets and gear we're far - ing
|
G
|
on the wild and waste - ful o - cean
|
F
|
It's there on the deep that we (6/4 time) har - vest
|
G C F G
|
and reap our bread as hunt the bon - ny shoals of her -
|
C
|
ring
|
|
-----------------
|
The Shoals of Herring
|
| Phil Ochs |
