The Bonny Shoals Of Herring

	  		
 


Intro: 
          A                    E  A 
With our nets and gear we're faring 
        A        D        A E 
On the wild and wasteful ocean. 
       A            D           A           E        F#m 
It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap our bread 
       A               D         E  A 
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring. 


Verse 
       A          D      E       A 
Oh it was a fine and a pleasant day 
        A                      E 
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring 
       A    E  D            F#m 
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger 
        A                D       E  A 
For to hunt the bonny shoals of herring 


        A             D      E           A 
O, the work was hard and the hours were long 
        A                           E 
And the treatment sure it took some bearing 
            A    E         D                F#m 
There was little kindness and the kicks were many 
       A               D         E  A 
As we hunted for the shoals of herring 


       A                    D      E         A 
O, we left the home grounds in the month of June 
        A                          E 
And to canny Shields we soon were bearing 
       A        E   D             F#m 
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings 
           A               D         E  A 
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring 


           A             D      E     A 
Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman 
         A                      E 
You can swear and show a manly bearing 
            A     E      D              F#m 
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows 
              A                 D         E  A 
While you're searching for the shoals of herring 


       A                D       E     A 
O, we fished the Sward and the Broken Bank 
        A                       E 
I was a cook and I'd a quarter-sharing 
       A        E     D             F#m 
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet 
          A              D         E  A 
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring 


            A             D         E      A 
You're net rope man now, boy you're on the move 
            A                      E 
And you're learning all about seafaring 
            A   E       D             F#m 
That's your education, scraps of navigation 
          A              D         E  A 
As you hunt the bonny shoals of herring 


        A           D       E      A 
In the stormy seas and the living gales 
         A                            E 
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring 
          A     E      D              F#m 
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands 
           A             D         E  A 
As you're following the shoals of herring 


        A           D      E       A 
O, I earned my keep and I paid my way 
        A                         E 
And I earned the gear that I was wearing 
         A        E      D                 F#m 
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes 
          A             D         E  A 
We were sailing after shoals of herring 


Outro 
(semi a capella) 
           A                 E  A 
Night and day the sea we're daring, 
       A      D      A    E 
Come wind or come winter gale, 
 A            D           A              E      F#m 
Sweating or cold, growing up or growing old or dying, 
             A               D         E  A 
While we're hunting for the shoals of herring