For Nolan's Irish Pub Session Players
Full version (10 verses)
Key of A
Capo 2
[Intro]
(semi a capella):
A E A
With our nets and gear we're faring
A D A E
On the wild and wasteful ocean.
A D A E F#m
It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap our bread
A D E A
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring.
[Verse]
A D E A
Oh it was a fine and a pleasant day
A E
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
A E D F#m
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
A D E A
For to hunt the bonny shoals of herring
A D E A
O, the work was hard and the hours were long
A E
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
A E D F#m
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
A D E A
As we hunted for the shoals of herring
A D E A
O, we left the home grounds in the month of June
A E
And to canny Shields we soon were bearing
A E D F#m
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
A D E A
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring
A D E A
Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
A E
You can swear and show a manly bearing
A E D F#m
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
A D E A
While you're searching for the shoals of herring
A D E A
O, we fished the Sward and the Broken Bank
A E
I was a cook and I'd a quarter-sharing
A E D F#m
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet
A D E A
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring
A D E A
You're net rope man now, boy you're on the move
A E
And you're learning all about seafaring
A E D F#m
That's your education, scraps of navigation
A D E A
As you hunt the bonny shoals of herring
A D E A
In the stormy seas and the living gales
A E
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring
A E D F#m
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
A D E A
As you're following the shoals of herring
A D E A
O, I earned my keep and I paid my way
A E
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
A E D F#m
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes
A D E A
We were sailing after shoals of herring
[Outro]
(semi a capella)
A E A
Night and day the sea we're daring,
A D A E
Come wind or come winter gale,
A D A E F#m
Sweating or cold, growing up or growing old or dying,
A D E A
While we're hunting for the shoals of herring
