Modern fishermans' protest songs

Subject: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: gnu
Date: 19 May 13 - 07:26 PM

Yeah, *I* know... fisherPERSON... give it a rest eh?

Lobster prices.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: gnu
Date: 19 May 13 - 08:11 PM

Anyone got one TO add?

Subject: Lyr Add: IT AIN'T FUNNY (Pamela Morgan)
From: michaelr
Date: 19 May 13 - 08:39 PM

Here's a good one: It Ain't Funny by Pamela Morgan, an indictment of Government's failure to protect the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery while sanctioning big business and blaming fishermen for the failure.

IT AIN'T FUNNY (Pamela Morgan)

His lullaby, the waves outside his window
His father and himself made a wonderful pair
Five hundred years of fishing in his family
Still the government wouldn't listen when he said "trouble down there"
It ain't funny, it ain't funny no more

Fat cat smirking in the land of plenty
Making jokes about a people and a country from a gentler time
Sanctioned and applauded the whole gang rape of the place
But like any rape they blame the victim for the crime
It ain't funny, it ain't funny no more

Political posturing now is the ultimate insult
(Now the Newfs are becoming a strain on the Ottawa wallet)
It's too little, too late - what's left is up for sale
(There's no need to be nice - what's left is up for sale)
And the best small boatsmen in the world are on the dole
Stupid and lazy according to the Globe and Mail

It ain't funny
Nobody's laughing now
It ain't funny
Something has changed somehow
It ain't funny, it ain't funny no more


From the CD On A Wing And A Prayer, Amber Music 1996

(In parentheses are alternate lyrics which were found googling but are not on PM's recording.)

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 19 May 13 - 10:03 PM

The Downeaster "Alexa." (Billy Joel)

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 20 May 13 - 12:28 AM

Barry Dransfield's song I Once Was a Fisherman.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Bert
Date: 20 May 13 - 01:05 AM

Wow, nice one Michaelr.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 20 May 13 - 02:25 AM

Not Many Fish in the Harbour Today, written by Bernard Bolan, recorded by Phyl Lobl, http://www.phyllobl.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=161&Itemid=147

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 20 May 13 - 02:35 AM

No More Fish, No Fishermen, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSQTvt70S4w --- written by Shelly Posen, also recorded by Finest Kind.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 20 May 13 - 03:29 AM

Where Will We Gan (Andrew Mitchell)
Free In The Harbour and Tiny Fish For Japan (Stan Rogers)

CC

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Kampervan
Date: 20 May 13 - 03:48 AM

If you look up the song catalogue of Dave Evardson and Bill Meek & John Conolly you'll find any number of protest songs from the 70's onwards.

e.g North Wall, Trawler Owners Shanty... lots more to choose from.

K/van

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 20 May 13 - 04:20 AM

Les Sullivan's "No fish on the wall"

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,John from "Elsie`s Band"
Date: 20 May 13 - 06:38 AM

"Trawlermen"

https://soundcloud.com/john-hills/trawlermen-2

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 May 13 - 06:45 AM

A couple that are perhaps mourning the demise of the fishing industry rather than real protest songs.
"Farewell to the Haven" by the late Davy Steele, and
"Guiding Light" by Scott Murray

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAST FISHERMAN (Jon Heslop)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 20 May 13 - 07:04 AM

THE LAST FISHERMAN
(Jon Heslop)

I was born at conflict's end, in shadows of the war,
My father came back home to spend, his time in boats once more,
We lived on what the sea would give, a little was alot,
The only way we knew to live, was off the catch we got.

Chorus

So when I'm dead then take my bones, out there where I have been,
Put them in care of Davy Jones, send my soul to Fiddlers Green.
Send my soul (send my soul, send my soul (send my soul)
send my soul to Fiddlers Green.

Then I became a fisher too, like father, so like son,
He taught me everything he knew, and everything he'd done,
But by the sea from us was torn, contentment's cornerstone,
The man behind the man was gone, the sea reclaims her own.

The saga of the sea went on as long as men would dare,
to face the deep as they have done with bravery and prayer,
The sons of sons of fishermen went daily to the sea,
Until the distant, faceless men decreed it should not be.

The boats are tied up to the quay, upon the shifting sand,
with ropes as strong as ropes should be, to bind them to the land,
To bind them to the spiteful shore when they would be at sea,
Like prisoners behind a door,they dream of being free.

The men are tied up to the land, while fish are swimming free,
There's riches there on every hand, but wealth is all at sea
Their hands are tied with landsmens chains to bind the days we knew,
And now we only have the pain and tears to watch them through.

chorus twice. If you can find someone with a really high voice they can add a final 'send my soul' at the very end.

copyright Jon Heslop 1999, Red Herring Music 1999

Sing it with feeling.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: oldhippie
Date: 20 May 13 - 08:37 AM

"The Fisherman" - Bobby Ross

Subject: Lyr Add: FISHERMEN'S SONS
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 20 May 13 - 02:10 PM

will never forget the first time we heard Archie Fisher sing The Final Trawl... or Stan Rogers' Tiny Fish for Japan.

Mike grew up near Lake Erie and had great respect for the small fishing boats that worked those waters. He eventually wrote a song about them.

FISHERMEN'S SONS

We're the last turtlebacks working out of the harbor, with seine nets, ring nets and trawl
And there are those who will tell you that the fishing is over, but don't look for us working on shore
Where once we were many, but now we are few
We still work the old boats our grandfathers knew
So, we'll let you know when the fishing is done
'Cause we're the sons of fishermen's sons

Work is hard and the hours are long
It's in after dark and out before dawn
If the catch has been good, we'll come in with a song
A song of fishermen's sons

Out off the headlands, the outcrops are standing; guardians carved from the stone
Keeping their vigil, they watch 'or the lakes, down through these many years gone
Stalwart and steadfast, embodied with pride
Resisting the changes of time and the tides
Their faces are lined by the waves and the winds
We say , "They must be fishermen's sons."

The scud from the factories flows out 'or the waters, lining the shores with its foam
We've taken our harvests and never gave back, a blame we must take as our own
Still it's out through the break in the calm or the squall,
Take in the gill nets and let out the tow
Bring in the nets, though the catch may be small
It's a hard time for fishermen's sons   

Interlude:

I've lived all my life here, learned from the waters to read the currents and sky
And changes are needed, well then changes there'll be, we're not here to watch our lakes die
As the gulls of the harbor that circle the beach,
Rise off the headland and call from the reach
As they called to our fathers they call to our sons
Sons of fishermen's sons

Work is hard and the hours are long
It's in after dark and out before dawn
If the catch has been good, we'll come in with a song
A song of fishermen's sons

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 20 May 13 - 03:02 PM

not a protest but Bella Figlia sung on the Christmas in Glousceter ?? cd is going through my head. Very pretty.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 20 May 13 - 04:00 PM

Here's one of mine, that deals with both fishermen and farmers:

The Promise of the Sowing

I'm working on a new recording of this for a CD of songs about farmers, fieldhands, and fisherfolk.

Dan

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 21 May 13 - 01:27 AM

I don't know how modern the songs should be to satisfy the original poster, but Roger Bryant's "Cornish Lads" about the demise of fishing and mining in Cornwall seems to have been written in the mid-to late 1990s. Lyrics can be found here on Mudcat. thread.cfm?threadid=7694 I know of this song from the singing of the Johnson Girls who recorded it on their third CD, Fire Down Below. Information about each song on that CD is here. http://www.folk-legacy.com/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=370 "Cornish Lads" is third from the bottom. Also on the lyrics thread Bonnie gives some information about how she became acquainted with the song. (She posts under her Liam's Brother but uses her name at the end of her posts.)

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 21 May 13 - 08:23 AM

boy.. senior moment...

completely forgot newfoundland's Jim Payne & Empty nets   yeesh

mea culpa, Jim

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: gnomad
Date: 21 May 13 - 09:56 AM

Here's a picture of S Crofty tin mine, especially for ChanteyLass.

Link here

Legend has it that the local plod came along just as the graffito was finished, saying "Ello, ello, what's all this then?", read the words then just nodded and continued on his beat. Dunno how true it is, but it should be.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 22 May 13 - 07:25 PM

Thank you for the link, Gnomad.

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: GUEST,Lavengro
Date: 23 May 13 - 04:19 AM

Steve Earle-Gulf of Mexico

Come and gather 'round me people
And a tale to you I'll tell
Of my father and his father
In the days before the spill
With an endless sky above 'em
And a restless sea below
And every blessing flowing from the Gulf of Mexico

Well my Granddad worked the shrimp boats
From the time that he was grown
And he scrimped and saved and bought himself
A trawler of his own
He was rough and he was ready
And he drank when he was home
And he made his family's living on the Gulf of Mexico

He was rolling
He was rolling
Cross the deep blue water
He was rolling

Well my Daddy drove a crew boat
Hauling workers to the rigs
He was sick of mending nets
And couldn't stand the smell of fish
He drew a steady paycheck
20 years to Texaco
When he died we spread his ashes
On the Gulf of Mexico

He was rolling
He was rolling
Cross the deep green water
He was rolling

As for me I dreamed of nothing
Any grander than the day
That I stepped out on the drilling floor
To earn a roughneck's pay
Then one night I swear I saw the devil
Crawlin' from the hole
And he spilled the guts of hell out
In the Gulf of Mexico

We were rolling
We were rolling
Cross the blood red water
We were rolling

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 May 13 - 07:15 PM

This is a protest song from the point of view of fisherman hemmed in by regulation and their own practices by Vince Morash from Nova Scotia:

Words & Music by Vince Morash, © 1995 SOCAN
As recorded on VINCE MORASH: Tide to Tradition, © 1997

Fishin' Where I'm Not Supposed To Be

The Betty Island Light is fading, now, I'm headin' out to sea,
And it'll take twenty hours of steamin' to put us where I hope the fish might be;
If I'm gonna to keep on fishin', it won't be for sub-si-dies;
I'm fishin' where I'm not supposed to be.

Chorus:

So I'm fishin' where I'm not supposed to be;
Got lots of that foreign fleet, they keep me com-pa-ny,
And I'm fishin' where I'm not supposed to be.

Financing wasn't easy, I mortgaged high and fought for every grant;
An' the building went so slowly now no matter how I tried to rave and rant;
She no sooner hit the water now they say "The quota's full";
I know damn well that's a lot of bull! (CHO)

We're short on length but broad at beam, I've got all the latest gadgetry;
Got my certified life raft, VHF radio and Loran C;
But if they catch me with my nets out here, it'll be the end of me,
'Cause I'm fishin' where I'm not supposed to be. (CHO)

I've been bankrupt, I've been mergered, overfinanced, double crossed and run aground;
I've been trampled by a freighter, set adrift and had my compass turned around;
But I will not lose my boat this time because of bureaucracy,
So I'm fishin' where I'm not supposed to be.(CHO2X)

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Modern fishermans' protest songs
From: banksie
Date: 24 May 13 - 04:40 AM

Someone has mentioned it in passing, but Archie Fisher's The Final Trawl has to be one of the simplest yet most profound and powerful songs on this subject