The point of this post is to present the new verses from PHIL HARRISON as sung by me on the Mudcat Zoom session 06/06/22

The Fisher Lads of Whitby as sung by Bill Price of West Yorkshire,

FISHER LADS OF WHITBY

My love he was a fisherlad, and when he came on shore
He always steered to me for to greet me at my door
He knew I loved him well as anyone could see
And all the times fain when he came a courting me

It was on a Monday morning; all in the month of May
He took me on his boat; for to sail out on the bay
He told me of his love as he sat down by my side
And said that in one month he would make me his bride

But that very afternoon a man of war came in the bay
A press gang came on shore and they took my love away
They put irons on his hands and put chains around his feet
And they took my love on board for to fight with the fleet

My father often talks of the perils of the main
My mother said she hopes that he will come back again
But me I cannot speak; for in my dreams I see
His body lying down at the bottom of the sea

And when the house is still; and everyone asleep
I sit upon my backside and bitterly I weep
Weeping for my lover who was taken by the sea
I know he never more will return again to me
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A colleague, PHIL HARRISON from the Carrington Triangle Folk Club in Nottingham a couple of years ago added the following verses to give the song a new twist.
Phil sings this to the modified tune that STEVE TILSON uses, but I use the tune Bill Price used which can be gleaned from Joe’s link above
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It was Severn long years later that a ship sailed in the bay
A fisher lad strode down the gang, long time he’d been away
He made his way through the town to the old familiar door
Hoping she’d remember what had been before

He heard some children’s voices who were playing in the yard
The thought of what had happened hit him awful hard
He turned around abruptly and ran back down the lane
And With a heavy aching heart, he climbed the gang again

Was that a step I heard outside the garden door
Or just a form of echo of what had been before
I opened up the door but no-one could I see
Then I called my sisters children to come and have their tea

The ships come sailing in and the ships they sail away
The fishermen will sing their songs out on Whitby Bay
The fishermen would haul their nets, how happy I would be
Living with my true love down beside the sea.

Do let us know what you think of the extra verses