I had the privilege of going, one Sunday lunchtime, to Rayner's Bar on Hessle Road with Keith Marsden to research the demise of Hull's deep sea fishing industry and the demise of Hessle Road. This was for a set of programmes for Radio Humberside back around 1980.
Keith got talking to an old trawlerman, who agreed to walk round the docks with us and tell us about the final days of the fishing in Hull and the end of Hessle Road.
The song encapsulates what this guy told us as we saw the Dock basins full of laid-u trawlers, including the sister ship of the Gaul
(Remember that?).
Anyway, I sang Hessle Road on the radio show and have sung it since in Hull at the shanty festivals and seen the reaction of locals who remember those days.
Keith was a great songwriter and 9could capture the situation and the emotion. It's been a while, but I still miss him.