From Folk Songs from Somerset, Volume 3
edited by Cecil J. Sharp & Charles L. Marson (London: Simpkin & Co., Ltd., et al., 1906), page 43, where there is also musical notation for one voice and piano:


THE BOLD FISHERMAN

1. As I walked out one May morning
Down by the riverside,
There I beheld a bold fisherman
Come rolling down the tide.

2. O fisherman, bold fisherman,
What fishes take you here?
I've come to catch a lady gay,
All down the river clear.

3. He rowed his boat unto the shore
And lashed it to a stem.
I see the fishes that I seek
And I am catching them.

4. Then he pulled off his morning gown
And laid it on the ground;
Three chains of gold did she behold,
Around his neck hang down.

5. He took her by the lily hand:
Come follow, follow me.
I'll row you to my father's house
And wedded we will be.

6. O fisherman, bold fisherman,
Too swiftly do you row;
For as I do not know your name
With you I cannot go.

7. Now say not so, my lady fair,
Replied that fisher bold.
I'll take you where the sea-maids comb
Their hair with combs of gold.

8. O strange it is bold fisherman,
That you came here today.
But if you row me in your boat
How will you treat me, pray?

9. O every day I rowed my boat
Along the river side
To fish for you, my lady gay,
And take you for my bride.