View site in Scots
Flickr YouTube

Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

Songs of the Sea

The fishing grounds off Scotland have long been a rich source of inspiration for songwriters in particular. Ewan MacColl's Song of the Fishgutters, also known as Come Aa Ye Fisher Lassies, is given a great treatment here by Cilla Fisher and her late sister Ray, with brother Archie on the guitar, in this 1990 tribute to Norman Buchan:

Prestonpans bard Davy Steele wrote of the decline of the fishing trade in his home area, in a song set in Morrison's Haven on the Forth, Fareweel tae the Haven:

Fareweel tae the Haven

00:00

 

Peterhead Fisherman's Wife is a song about the hard work that inshore fishing involves. The first verse of the song was known as a rhyme in various fishing communities along the Moray coast:

Peterhead Fisherman's Wife

00:00

 

In Fareweel Tae Tarwathie, a Scottish whaler is sad to leave home for the long and dangerous journey north to Baffin Bay, but hopeful; he will come home richer. The song is traditionally accompanied by the tune 'Kennet's Dream':