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Fisherman's Wife

[Ewan MacColl]

This is one of the songs Ewan MacColl wrote for the Radio Ballad Singing the Fishing. Steeleye Span recorded it for their first album Hark! The Village Wait. A live recording from The Forum, London on September 2, 1995 was released on the double CD The Journey. The original album's sleeve notes commented:

The words by Ewan MacColl, set to a traditional Scots tune, manage effectively to convey the quiet despair of the fisherman's wife resigned to the frequent absence of her husband with lapsing into self-pity but rather extending an underlying feeling of pride at her lot in life. The song was first heard in the 1959 Radio Ballad Singing the Fishing. Ashley Hutchings: “Although it was written in the 1950s, it is in traditional style and I got it from the tape library which Ewan had in his house.”

Lyrics

A' the week your man's awa'
And a' the week you bide your lane;
A' the time you're waiting for
The minute that he's comin' hame.
Ye ken whit wha' he has tae wark,
Ye ken the hours he has tae keep;
And yet it mak's ye angry when
Ye see him just come hame tae sleep.

Through the months and through the years
While you're bringing up the bairns,
Your man's awa' tae here and there
A-followin' the shoals o' herrin's.
And when he's back there's nets tae mend
You've maybe got a score or twa;
And when they're done he'll rise and say,
“Wife it's time I was awa'.”

Work and wait and dree your weird,
And pin yer faith in herrin' sales;
And ofttimes lie awake at nicht
In fear and dread of winter gales.
But men maun work tae earn their breid
And men maun sweat to gain their fee,
And fishermen will aye gang oot
As long as fish swim in the sea.