Here is a version of a song that I have added a verse to...so that I can sing it in New England and also have a reference to the Sea.....

Tim Radford

Tending My Sheep by Ruth Tongue


If I was the King of Taunton town
I'd wear a sword and a golden crown.
I'd ride on afore when we went to the war
With soldiers to follow, a hundred or more!

But (So/And) I'd rather be tending my sheep,
Yes, I'd rather be tending my sheep;
My ewes and my rams and my little young lambs,
I'd rather be tending my sheep.

If I were a Bristol merchant-man,
With silver to collar and silver to hem,
And fine chests of gold, a sight to behold.
The thieves and the robbers they'd soon make me old.

(My extra verse)
If I were a Somerset fisherman bold
I’d cast out my nets be the weather hot or cold.
All the days of my life with my heart & my soul
I’d do my very best to feed all from my haul.

A shepherd I've been all the days that I've seen,
When the fields they're white and the fields they are green.
And I do meet my foe when the cold wind does blow,
When the foxes so cunning hide down in the snow.

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The towns of Taunton, Bristol and Somerset are all in the south east of the States of Massachusetts or in Rhode Island, and although the song is originally from Somerset, England – it seems to “fit” here; so I wrote the extra “Fisherman” verse.

Ther tune can be heard here by The Furrow Collective.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utHPUSvUJNw