Back to List of Songs

SCARBOROUGH FISHERMEN (MCPS/PRS Richard Grainger and Klondike Music) Lead and fiddle: Peter Guitar, harmony, and D whistle: Richard

Composed by Richard Grainger, a fine singer, songwriter, and guitar player in the Teeside area of Yorkshire. This is Grainger's ode to the fishermen of Scarborough, on Yorkshire's Northeast coast, who fish in the North Sea.

LYRICS:

Chorus:
Here's to the fisher lad, bold as can be
Riding the swell on the cold Northern Sea
Ear to the sounder, eye on the scan
Scarborough fishermen on Northern ground

No weather's too rough when the net's never full
A friend of the wind and the old seagull
It's farewell to Mary, love, farewell to thee
Scarborough fishermen out on the sea

Chorus

Southwards to Yarmouth, North past the Tyne
East to the Dogger Bank, the shoals for to find
It's night and day workin', fillin' our hold
The North Sea's the place where we dig for our gold

Chorus

Prices are high, stocks getting low
More work on this deck, boys, than ever before
It's sodden all day, without any sleep
Scarborough fishermen out on the deep

Chorus

Boy on the deck, how do you feel?
With your icein' and haulin', your nerves made of steel
It'll make you a man, you live a hard life
While you dream of your girl, of warm sheets and dark nights

Chorus

Skipper's in the wheelhouse with a mountainous sea
Towering above, looking down upon me
Prepare for the crash, boys, no time to pray
Scarborough lads facing danger each day

Chorus

Now the weeks over and we are done in
It's all back to Scarborough neat as a pin
With beer in our belly, no longer we'll roam
Scarborough fishermen on the way home

Chorus twice