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The North Sea Holes

from Freeborn Man by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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about

This was the theme song of the Radio-Ballad Singing the Fishing which documented the men and the technologies of the herring-fishing industry. It leans towards the romantic and heroic aspects of the work. In the late 1950s, these fishermen still regarded themselves as ‘the last of the hunters’. The program began with the drift-net method, in which a long, narrow net is strung out along the top of the water. It hangs in the water much like the net on a tennis court. The holes in the net are set to catch large fish only and they are cast at the time of day when the herring rise. Drift-net fishermen, who would pull these two-mile nets by hand and shake the fish out onto the deck, inferred that their craft was real hunting, i.e. a fair fight between themselves and their prey. This method has now been abandoned in favour of fully automated technological ravaging ofthe sea, in which the fishermen scoop up everything, including shellfish, immature fish, seaweed, rocks, detritus, etc., and throw back everything but the small catch that they want. The unwanted flora, fauna and minerals sink back down to the bottom, where they form a sediment of waste which now replaces what was: an entire landscape, a community, a system of natural supply and demand. The human scavengers must now go further and further afield for a catch due to depletion of stocks and fierce international competition in local waters. European Community countries can fish each other’s waters as close to the coast as they wish... and herring is no longer the food of the poor.


words and music: Ewan MacColl

lyrics

Come, all you gallant fishermen that plough the stormy sea
The whole year round on the fishing grounds,
On the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
On the banks and knolls and the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found.

It’s there you’ll find the Norfolk boys and the lads from Peterhead,
There’s Buckie chiels and men from Shields,
On the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
On the banks and knolls and the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found.

From Fraserborough and Aberdeen, from Whitby, Yarmouth Town,
The fleet’s away at the break of day
To the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
To the banks and knolls and the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found.

It’s off with a boiler full of steam and your engine spic and span
To fish the grounds the North Sea round,
And fish the Knolls and the North Sea Holes
And try your luck at the North Shields Gut
With a catch of a hundred cran.

No need to wait for wind and tide, you’re the master of the sea,
Come calm or squall, just shoot and haul
And fill the hold with the fish to be sold
And steam ahead for the curing shed
And the buyers on the Yarmouth quay.

Come all you gallant fishermen that sail the stormy sea,
The whole year round on the fishing grounds
On the Northern Minch and the Norway Deeps,
On the Banks and Knolls and the North Sea Holes
Where the herring shoals are found.

credits

from Freeborn Man, released September 20, 1983
Ewan MacColl - vocals
Peggy Seeger - concertina
Neill MacColl - mandolin, backing vocals
Ian Telfer - fiddle
Calum MacColl - guitar, backing vocals
Hamish MacColl - backing vocals

Produced by Neill MacColl
Engineered by Nick Godwin
Recorded at Pathway Studios, London

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Ewan MacColl London, UK

This site is maintained by the MacColl family, aiming to make Ewan's catalogue available to download.
Ewan MacColl is known to most as a songwriter and singer, but he was also of significant influence in the worlds of theatre and radio broadcasting. His art reached huge numbers through the folk clubs, greater numbers through his recordings and untold millions through the radio. ... more

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