Once There Were Three Fishermen (The Three Jews)

DESCRIPTION: "Once there were three fishermen (x2), Fisher fisher men men men (x3) Once there were three fishermen." The three fishermen are named, and their voyages described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Harbin-Parodology)
KEYWORDS: fishing nonsense campsong
FOUND IN: US(MW,Ro) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, pp.161-162, "There were three Jews called Patriarchs" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 176, "The Three Old Jews" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 185, "The Three Jews" (1 text)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #194, "Three Jews" (1 text)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 85, "Three Jolly Fishermen" (1 text, tune referenced)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 240, "Once There Were Three Fishermen" (1 text)
Harbin-Parodology, #127, p. 39, "Three Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 128-129, 192, 234, 310, "Three Fishermen" (notes only)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsNThings, p. 50, "The Three Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsPopularEdition, p. 4, "Three Jolly Fishermen" (1 text)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, pp. 22-23, "Three Jolly Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3708 and 12776
RECORDINGS:
Judy Cook, "Three Fishermen" (Piotr-Archive #485, recorded 02/01/2023)
NOTES [225 words]: This is rather confusing, because the change of one word significantly changes the song. In several texts (Gardner and Chickering, Greenleaf and Mansfield), the three heroes are Jews (Kane has "three Jews called Patriarchs"). But in Pankake, as well as the version printed by Silber, they are fishermen. The latter version is very much a children's song, I've only encountered two versions of this, and they differ in most particulars: In the Silber version, the sailors are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they sail for Amsterdam (with resulting comments about naughty words); Ed McCurdy sings a version with different sailors, in which Halifax is the destination. It appears Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs also had the Amsterdam version.
(Judy Cook's version has them go to Jericho, which is Biblical, then has them wish to go to "Amster-shh!," taking advantage of the "bad word.")
The fact that the three sailors are "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" in one of the "Fishermen" versions implies to me that the "Three Jews" version is older; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are, of course, the three patriarchs of the Jews, so if they show up in a "Fishermen" version, it's because the names were derived from a "Three Jews" version.
In this case, Roud splits the two versions. But the verse form, as well as the names of the characters, says they are the same. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: FSWB240A

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