Subject: RE: Any May songs? From: GUEST,henryp Date: 04 May 21 - 08:49 AM

The Codbanging Song Collected in Harwich, Essex by Ralph Vaughan Williams, as sung by Charles Benham, April 1904.
Additional verses from Bob Hart of Suffolk.
https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S231479


THE CODBANGING SONG

1. Come, come my lads and listen here
A fisherman's song you soon shall hear
What I did and undergo
When first I went a cod-banging O

CHORUS
To my lal fol the day
Riddle all day
This is the smacksman's life at sea

2. How well I remember the fourteenth of May
A big barque ship she came our way
She came our way and she did let fly
And the topsail halyards they flew sky high
CHORUS

3. And now we draw near Harwich pier
The young and the old folks they both draw near
To see us get our fish on deck
And crack their skulls with a little short stick
CHORUS

4. And now my song it is nearly done
And I hope that I've offended none
But I don't think I've got it complete
'Cos I've only been in the trade about a week
CHORUS


From EFDSS Essex Folk Song Discovery: Coastal Songs 2018
https://media.efdss.org/resourcebank/docs/RB222Essex_Folk_Song_Discovery-Coastal_Songs.pdf (page 16)