With[C] our nets and gear we're[G] far[C]ing On[C] the wild and waste[F]ful[C] ocean. It's out there on the [F]deep [C]We harvest and [F]reap [C]our bread As we hunt the bonny [F]shoals [C]of [G]herr[C]ing
O[C] it was a fine and a pleasant day Out of Yarmouth harbor I was[G] faring As a[C] cabinboy on a sailing lugger We were following the [G]shoals of Herr[C]ing
O the work was hard and the hours long And the treatment, sure it took some bearing There was little kindness and the kicks were many As we hunted for the shoals of herring
O we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank I was cook and I'd a quarter sharing And I used to sleep standing on my feet And I'd dream about the shoals of herring
O we left the homegrounds in the month of June And to Canny Shiels we soon were bearing With a hundred cran of silver darlings That we'd taken from the shoals of herring
Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman You can swear and show a manly bearing Take your turn on watch with the other fellows While you're searching for the shoals of herring
In the stormy seas and the living gales Just to earn your daily bread you're daring From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands As you're following the shoals of herring
O I earned my keep and I paid my way And I earned the gear that I was wearing Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes We were sailing after shoals of herring