YEA HO, LITTLE FISHY


There's a song in my heart for the one I love best
And her picture is tattooed all over my chest,

Ch.       Yea ho, little fishy, don't cry, don't cry,
             Yea ho, little fishy, don't cry, don't cry.

There are fish in the sea, there is no doubt about it
Just as good as the ones that have ever come out of it,

Little fish, when he's caught, he fights like a bull whale
As he threshes the water with his long narrow tail.

The ship's under way and the weather is fine
The captain's on the bridge hanging out other lines,

The crew are asleep, and the ocean's at rest
And I'm singing this song to the one I love best.


J.S. Manifold, in The Penguin Australian Song Book (vol 1), writes:

"A foc'sle song from the Queensland coast. A composite from versions printed in Singabout, Vol. 2, No. 4, and Vol. 3, No. 2 ...... The original sources were Dick Fizgerald of Charleville, and Jack Wright of Coogee."

The Provenance of this song is discussed on these two Mudcat threads and other versions given :
/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8689#54998   and   /mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=42677

The apparently Portuguese chune makes it a luvverly song to sing!! Here are Chloe & Jason Roweth at Sydney’s Humph Hall in 2010 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSo_GZ-HSiQ

I’ve included this one coz the singers’ve got the right name, haha!!! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCWLCGJCSas      “A Portuguese lullaby that was sung by Manuel(Spencer Tracy) in the 1937 Captain's Courageous movie that was based on a Gloucester fishing schooner tragedy. This is our adaption of the lullaby. Sung by Audi and Peter SOUZA”
BtW, Fremantle in WA, has Portuguese fishermen in its history, along with many other European/Mediterranean peoples [https://fremantlestuff.info/fhs/fs/5/MaySally.html]; don’t know about their music though (anyone??)…..


R-J