A recent revival of a discussion on this song prompts me to add the following:
From the notes to the Penguin Book (1959):
" A nonsense song of the sort of The Mallard, The Jolly Old Hawk, The Sow Took the Measles, and The Hunting of the Wren (a well-known foreign relative is the French-Canadian Alouette). Perhaps at one time these pieces were by no means nonsensical, but accompanied a magic ritual connected with a sacred beast. The primitive dance tunes usually associated with this kind of song, remarked upon by Miss Lucy Broadwood, may point to a former ceremonial use. Whatever the case, to singers nowadays The Red Herring is merely a piece of amiable tomfoolery. Cecil Sharp printed three versions from Somerset (Folk Song Journal No.20, 1916, pp. 283-5) and a version from Wiltshire appears in Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames (Alfred Williams, 1923)." -R.Vaughan Williams /A.L.Lloyd.
This version of the song was noted by Cecil Sharp from Mr. Trump of North Petherton, Somerset, in 1906, and was originally published in the Folk Song Journal, vol.V , issue no. 20, 1916, p.284. Versions have been found all over England, and have also turned up in Ireland. Here are links to some material available online; as usual, I list only stable sites which contain substantive information.
In the DT:
HERRING'S HEAD Apparantly an Irish version; no source named, though it is a transcription from Eliza Carthy's recording; the only comment is "tune is in Irish Songs of the Sea." Very similar to (and probably derived from) the text Seamus Ennis used to sing, and which Peter Kennedy printed in his Folksongs of Britain and Ireland (1975 and 1984).
A midi made from the notation in Kennedy is available at the Mudcat Midi Pages:
Herring's Head. At the time I made it, I hadn't realised that the DT text was transcribed from Eliza's singing, so my comments attached to the file are now largely redundant.
In the Forum:
Lyr Req: Eliza Carthy lyrics Includes a transcription from Eliza Carthy's recording; no tune. Also in the DT file cited above.
Lyr Add: The Harrin's Heed Northumbrian text, harvested for DT. No tune indication.
LYR ADD: The Herring's Head Text as recorded by Chris Foster; no tune or traditional source named.
Lyric:The Herring Song Includes the text from Foster again, a partial transcription made by ear from the recording by Eliza Carthy, and some speculation on her source and on the meaning of the refrain she sings. At various points the discussion wanders off into other herring-related topics, including the inevitable Shoals of Herring, and a rather nice parody of it. Towards the end, two traditional, Gaelic forms of the refrain in question are cited, and the Northumbrian text is posted again, with a few extra bits.
Eliza C Herring Song chorus Brief thread on that troublesome refrain, with a comment from Eliza herself.
There is an entry at the The Traditional Ballad Index:
A great many performers have recorded arrangements of traditional versions of this song, and I wouldn't really want to encourage anyone to start listing their own personal favourites in this thread, unless it were to involve posting genuine traditional sets, attributed to their original sources and significantly different from what we already have.