I love seasongs at lot and seeing a thread about them has reminded me to bring this up again.

Half a year ago I asked for this song with no response. Now I provide the first response but I'm not contented with it. There are at least two bits I have marked in my transcription where I don't know what they try to sing, but I wouldn't be surprised if some other lines are also wrong. "They", by the way, are the McCalmans.

The writers of this song, however, are John Conolly and Bill Meek. "Grimsby lads" and "Fiddler's Green" are two of their songs that are already in the database. I think this one deserves to join them, but in a correct (or at least understandable) version. So please correct my transcription if you know this song. Here it is:

Men of the sea
(John Conolly / Bill Meek)

1. At the age of 15 I slipped out from the harbour,
my very first trip for the silver pits bound.
I was galley boy, mess-man, the lowest of callings,
but at last I was off to the trawl fishing ground.

Fair Isle to Labrador,
Bear Isle and Norway
and cold Greenland shore,
learning my trade with the men of the sea.

2. Long years as a deckie I hold for my living
and I danced on the deck through the wild Arctic gales,
knew the tight grip of fear as the cold sea swept o’er me,
and I soon learned the truth of the old trawling tales. Chorus

3. And in between trips, well, the town couldn’t hold me,
I (too tae tie toon) with my head full of rum,
a girl on each arm and the pocket soon empty,
live now and pay later, there’s hard days to come. Chorus

4. Now I know every (haul as the topstar horizon)
and learned all the tricks of the trawl fishing trade.
Know the sea as provider, betrayer, and taker,
but I got my mate ticket, my future is made.
As a skipper at last I stand tall on the dockside,
from the boy to the man to the master of men.
Now the ocean is mine as we slip from the harbour
and back to the sea to start learning again. Chorus

Wolfgang