The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #640   Message #1837
Posted By: arnowitt
01-Feb-97 - 09:23 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Three Fishers (Charles Kingsley)
Subject: Lyr Add: THREE FISHERS (Charles Kingsley, J Hullah
Here you go

THE THREE FISHERS
(Charles Kingsley, J Hullah)

Three fishers went sailing out into the West.
Out into the West as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town;
For men must work and women must weep,
For there's little to earn, and many to keep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the light-house tower,
And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down,
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night rack came rolling up ragged and brown!
But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbour bar be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands
In the morning gleam as the tide went down,
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands
For those who will never come back to the town;
For men must work and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep—
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.

Words: Charles Kingsley
Music: John Hullah
I heard it on a Joan Baez recording, and I believe that it's in one of her songbooks if you're looking for chords.