(The Bonny) Shoals of Herring - Luke Kelly

[@africadreamin]

What an amazing rendition of a great song, awsome voice, sorely missed.

[@opaldove]

The wonderful Luke Kelly!! You can hear every single word that 'The Master' sings...best folk singer ever!! RIP Luke and thank you for posting this bigmanio

[@daisypeters3216]

Luke lovely troubadour! The Great master of songs and many tellers. Rest in peace, my boy.

[@nacho1560]

He had a Scottish granny as well so we Scots have a fraction share on the greatest folk singer ever. This is a brilliant version of a great Scottish song.

[@shannonbhoy]

I thank you, all of you who post Luke's songs on youtube. At three am, when I'm hammered, I always look to some Dubliners and you are there for me. Belting these songs out with Luke is good for one's soul. The only thing better is belting them out with friends in a pub.

[@joefleming6719]

'The Dublin Minstrel Bhoy', the best singer ever......God rest you Luke...x

[@tekken278]

so powerful..one of my favorites :)

[@mitzirona]

Luke Kelly's voice, particularly singing "Shoals", makes me shiver. He was amazing.

[@rodrigonavarrodiaz]

Luke Kelly/E MacColl.......a magic tandem. Matchless class. Regards from Spain

[@BeorhtFrognostic]

I enjoy these old songs

[@heardashot]

Oh boy, this is a monumental song that takes a monumental voice and Luke has this in abundance. Incredible, simply incredible. The hair stands on me head, the little bit I have every time I play this song. Good on ya Luke.

[@jj1211]

I was born in Canada, 4 months I was there. I have lived in Ireland 40 years, it was only when I heard/felt this song I knew I was as Irish as they come🇨🇮

[@heardashot]

@@jj1211 Nice one Jacqueline! It's funny how a song can sweep you off you're feet and bring you elsewhere rich and full of memories. . Wonderful that song where the lyrics were formed with conversations with fishermen along the east coast of England. It doesn't get any more honest or purer than that. I think that's why Luke could take to it so naturally, almost like the man in black in Johnny Cash's example. It's a wonderful shanty ballad. I have actually learned it with my 5 string Framus and use the same roll as did Luke. Taken a long time to learn and I'm comfortable with it now. It sure is one of my favourites. Monumental song, absolutely Luke at his best. Take care! x

[@jj1211]

@@heardashot is it the Framus that plays that beautiful backing.. When I hear it I am there, perceiving with every sense the shoals moving in the sea. I love the contrast between the beauty of the music and nature vs the reality in the lyrics "sleep standing up" and earning every stitch he wears, heard in Luke's voice which seems to echo down through hundreds of years of history. Truly Spectacular💜

[@heardashot]

@@jj1211 Not sure if it is a Framus that Luke is playing in this song although he did have Framus among his 5 strings. To answer your question, yes that is most certainly the long neck 5 string used in that song. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful unmistakable sound with the first part that lovely roll used almost mimicking a rolling turbulent sea and then enter the verse.....the story of the fishermen....and back into that roll for a momuntal ending. Lift you out of your shoes that you are stood in. Yes, a song with such an impact, it's hair raising brilliance. Not an easy song to sing and Luke makes it easy. It's so natural for him. I think in my opinion we see the best in Luke with this one. Such a beautiful ballad. Glad you and so many enjoy. Have a good day!..👍💚

[@jj1211]

@@heardashot Thanks very much. Sure does lift me, and I'm not thaat easy to pick up😆 You too, have a good 1 x

[@larrymorgan63]

Great song, sung by a great Balladeer, written by a great folk singer Ewan McColl or James Miller if you like, what does it matter where Luke Kelly came from or whether Yarmouth is in Norfolk or Timbuktu, or whether the word bonny was part of the original song, its a song that echos with fishermen all over the world, Ewan McColl was a 2nd generation scot born in Salford Lancs, Luke Kelly sung folk songs from all over the world.

[@lusso147]

Steam trawling began in North Shields when William Purdy Converted his tug to tow a trawl (Instead of towing the fishing smacks)....My Grandfather was a Skipper,My father was a Skipper (from 1933 till 1965 for Purdys and Hasties)) and I went fishing from north shields till the distant water boats were laid up......class song

[@robsargent4]

Fishermen & fishwives from Scotland. NE England & Yorkshire were wont to go down to Dogger Bank during the herring season, because at that time that was where many of the herring migrated to. While down there, they might stop in Great Yarmouth. Many East coast fishing families are all related. My own paternal ancestors were from Shetland, while my grandad was from Fraserburgh, I was brought up in Dunbar. What nation can claim this song? This is a fishing song for fishing folk everywhere.

[@mostattention]

Not so my friend: ..You should visit the North East, sepecially the villages of the old coal fields in Northumberland. I hear the expression every day; Bonny is a lovely expressive word and is used in friendship not only to describe beauty but to show warmth to the recipient. Our language and it's local dialects and words lends a quality which I hope survives. Best Wishes. Will

[@odonnchada9994]

Top Class Yep. ☘🇮🇪🎼🎼🎼😃

[@mollymurphy7932]

Chills every time...

[@door2yourheart]

I have a VERY wide taste in music but this will be up there in my top ten!

[@dosdeazucar1]

This beautiful song is very sentimental. I like to know some seamen england. I was one. Because I like to share proffesional knowing in the sea. Thank.

[@humptyflippingdumpty]

Memories of Luke Kelly when he guested at "The Jug of Punch", Birmingham. Super

[@MORGANTHEMOON1]

I've loved the corries singing this for many years but I'm sorry Luke is simply the best singing this

[@peterdanielodonohoe]

Why do people always find fault? The man is a legend and will always be remembered that way and made a difference. Nobody cares If you dont like it or want to give out about lyrics. Appreciate a genius at work.

[@marcelocarneiro2734]

Unreachable voice

[@Mayqueen1805]

The writer of this song Ewan McColl, was born in the north of England, but his parents were Scottish in origin. the song reflects the many miles travelled by fishermen along the coast of all the British Isles including England & Scotland and even further north towards Scandinavia

[@wildangus999]

saw him in germany when i was in the army brill banjo great band dubliners

[@Squarekn0t]

I'm a wonderin ifin the Caplin' that populate the shores of Newfinland might be the same spicies as the herring, we used to scoop them up by the bucket full when the cpe'lin run up to the shore in BonaVista

[@alistairwilson1674]

or should I say what a voice

[@robsargent4]

Well, North Shields is famous for fishing. In fact it gets its name from the fishing industry! And as Allan says, fishermen & fishwives from fairly far north, including Scotland & Northumbria, used to follow the herring down to Dogger Bank & maybe stop off in Yarmouth, Grimsby or Hull. I can't claim to know for sure what was going through the head of the song-writer when he wrote this, but all I'm saying is that Yarmouth was one of the focal points of British fishing as a whole. The narrator

[@mariafarrugia-harrison4491]

i always loved the corries version until i heard luke singing it, god what a voice, love luke so much.

[@eamonnryan1106]

amazing voice

[@robsargent4]

could be from any one of many fishing towns & villages in Scotland & England, because boats from all over Britain stopped in Yarmouth during the herring fishing season. At the end of the day, as you say it's a song about fishing, rather than an English or a Scottish song.

[@bellerace1]

Best folk singer? He is the greatest singer we have ever had.

[@odonnchada9994]

Him And Joe Dolan.☘🇮🇪😃

[@edronc2007]

@door2yourheart: Liam Clancy says in another video that Ewan McColl intervied fishermen all along the east coast of England and made up the lyrics from their words. There isn't a single word by McColl, so Liam Clancy said. That explains why it's in English.

[@Untemperedsteel]

10,000 thumbs up!

[@alistairwilson1674]

what a voise

[@RIDETHESUNSHINE]

The unwritten last verse… “And it's night and day we're faring Come winter wave or winter gale Sweating or cold growing up, growing old or dying As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring” I remember breaths of simple melodies, barely whispered into a tin whistle, but squeezing bittersweet tears from the dull milky blue eyes of a few of God's most withered, weathered, and bent sons of the salt. They smiled with toothless grins at one another, acknowledging their undocumented brotherhood. Not by birth of a mother, but of a motherland, and a vocation. They all had spent their lives at sea. Some of them serving, and going back to the last days of wood, and sail, before the takeover of steel, and steam, they were all beached now, too old, too mangled to “Shape Up,” and “Ship Out,” on any line. Stranded, and waiting for time, and or fate to take them to that far distant shore, where is no pain, and you never grow old. God Please Rest this Sorry Lot of Souls. Dear Merciful Lord Almighty, please let them know, they may have been forgotten by time, but not by Will, the child that sat at their knee, so many long years ago. “There's a school on the hill Where the sons of dead fathers Are led toward tempests and gales, Where their God-given wings Are clipped close to their bodies, And their eyes are bound-'round with ships' sails. What force leads a man To a life filled with danger High on seas or a mile underground? It's when need is his master And poverty's no stranger, And there's no other work to be found.” The Fisherman’s Wife’s Lament,-- The Fureys Thank You "Bigmanio," for stitching together this bittersweet love letter to a struggle of life gone by. Please Be Well, and Stay Strong, Will

[@MORGANTHEMOON1]

Nobody sings this like Luke

[@gaspode18]

Yarmouth is in Scotland? News to me.

[@Mayqueen1805]

Luke was born in Dublin Ireland, but his mother was Scottish

[@jabborn01]

This Dubliners version is surely the best. Luke Kelly does not need the echo turned up.

[@blustardave]

nice one phil..Never knew you had fishing in your blood..:)

[@gaconnochie]

@Ptarmi "this song was inspired by the Fishermen of the N.E. of England" Ewan wrote the song after meeting and interviewing for some length of time a fisherman from Norfolk called Sam Lerner. Ewan tried to get the words as close as possibble to Lerner's own expressions. So inspired by an East Anglian fisherman not the fishermen of the north-east.

[@gaconnochie]

@Ptarmi I'm sure you are right. And there were fishermen from all up the east coast england and Scotland working out of Yarmouth plus all the Scottish lassies gutting the fish. I did hear someone say once that Bonnie was an unusual word for a Norfolk fisherman to say, and that perhaps that was MacColl's own poetic license, but I suppose Norfolm men would possibly pick up some of the lingo from the incomers too.

[@andrewwigglesworth3030]

I once heard part of one of the interviews with Sam Larner, and he used the words "silver darlings" and "bonny."

[@tony10396861]

@Mayqueen1805 His granny was scottish, both his parents were Irish.

[@angelf1re]

3 on here who are deaf?. Amazing performance by the Lads.

[@tigu2012]

What a voice my partners dad was their roadie

[@bigears4426]

Those women had some bloody muscle

[@UISTMAN59]

No, they aren't the same at all . When you get lots of herring in the Barents Sea, the capelin stocks are affected, maybe due to food competition and also because of herring feeding on capelin larvae .

[@mostattention]

Well I hear him sing it in London in the 70s. He used the word Bonny then................ Will.

[@Ptarmi]

@MORGANTHEMOON1 I too, saw The Corries do this many times, but we must be honest, nobody sings .... anything, better than Luke did!

[@oldreilly]

amen to that, opaldove and joeygsmom

[@door2yourheart]

@Pawnbroker00 Why? The original is in English, the language that most of the herring followers used. The Gaelic speakers were a minority splinter group. Is there a Gaelic version on here?

[@Ptarmi]

@nacho1560 Sorry, but I believe Ewan was actually born in England, also, this song was inspired by the Fishermen of the N.E. of England. So, much as I'm sure we'd love to claim it up here, North of the Border ..... credit where credit's due ah! ;-)

[@bilboboggins9052]

Apart from a mention in the lyrics, what's Yarmouth got to do with Luke Kelly? He did have a Scottish granny. The song was written by Ewan McColl, who had Scottish parents, and although he grew up in Salford, his influences were mainly Scottish - no Yarmouth connection there either.

[@gmonkman]

Errr, and?

[@opaldove]

You and I have very similar taste in music I believe joeygsmom :))

[@fruitofaloom]

Love I mean't to say

[@Ambidexter143]

Yarmouth is not anywhere near Scotland. This is an English song.

[@fruitofaloom]

The the Makem Clancy brothers version also

[@SPAREPARTSCENTRE]

That's allowed - we're not that far removed anyway the Gaelic Scots that is but I'm sure someone will put up an arguement

[@sgtcrab1]

Lowestoft?

[@davidglavin8796]

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[@TheFlyingPlectrum]

a quick youtube search will show otherwise ;-)

[@tony10396861]

@ivelleh Ya must be jokin!!!

[@Ptarmi]

@gaconnochie Interesting, thanks. However, given Ewan's politics, I'm sure he wrote this song for Fishermen, everywhere. Cheers, Dick

[@andrewwigglesworth3030]

True, but it was written specifically for the "Singing the fishing" Radio ballad and was deliberately crafted using phrases and speech patterns of Norfolk fishermen, most notably of course, Sam Larner. Many of the sentiments are of course universal, this is what makes a great folk song (amongst other things), but it was clearly also meant to be specific to a community of fishermen in East Anglia.

[@mtsongs]

its not a case of one version being better than another, folk music is not to be listened to like that, different singers will have their own take on any song they do. but when you take luke into it, then you are taking about the best folk singer of all time, bar none. luke also loved mccolls singing, so much so that in certain phrasing etc there are similarities between them.

[@gaconnochie]

"Nobody in England uses the word 'bonnie'" I take it you don't know many people from Northumerland, Newcastle etc then?

[@ivelleh]

Not a patch on Ewan MacColls original