Song of the Fishes (Blow Ye Winds Westerly)

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you bold fishermen, listen to me, I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea, Then blow ye winds westerly, westerly...." The behaviors of the various fish are described as they come forward and speak to the sailors
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople)
KEYWORDS: fishing bragging nonballad sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(NE) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 187-188, "The Boston Come-All-Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 145-147, "Song of the Fishes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 196-198, 209-210, "The Fishes" (4 texts, 4 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 153-154], "Blow the Man Down" (1 text, version D of "Blow the Man Down") [AbEd, pp. 164-165]
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 15, "Blow the Wind Whistling" (1 text)
Fowke/Mills/Blume-CanadasStoryInSong, pp. 160-161, "The Fish of the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, p. 859, "Blow the Wind Westerly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 77, "The Old Ark" (1 text, 1 tune, with first verse and chorus from "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'" and additional verses from "this song")
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, pp. 129-131, "Song of the Fishes" (1 very full text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 496-498, "The Boston Come-All-Ye or The Fishes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 22, "The Fish of the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfNewEnglandFolklore, pp. 557-558, "The Boston Come-All-Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 154, "Boston Come-All-Ye (or The Fishes)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 90, "Blow Ye Winds Westerly" (1 text)
GirlScouts-SingTogether, p. 85, "The Boston Come-All-Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
GirlScout-PocketSongbook, p. 33, "The Boston Come-All-Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SONGFISH* SNGFISH2
Roud #472
RECORDINGS:
Charlotte Decker, "Blow the Wind Westerly" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Pete Seeger, "Come All You Bold Sailormen" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1029), "The King of the Sea" ("Up starts the herring the king of the sea"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 28(102), "The King of the Sea"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yea Ho, Little Fish" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Blow the Wind Southerly" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
"Fishes Song" (by Harry Mercer) (fragment on p. 161 of Cox-FolkMusicInANewfoundlandOutport)
File: LxA496

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