Henry's Songbook

Wha'll buy my caller herrin', they're bonnie fish and halesome farin'
Buy my caller herrin', new drawn frae the Forth (caller - fresh, just caught)

And when ye're sleepin' on your pillows
Dreamt ye aught of our puir fellows
Darklin' as they faced the billows
A' tae fill oor woven willows

Buy my caller herrin', they're bonnie fish and halesome farin'
Buy my caller herrin' new drawn frae the Forth

And when the creel o' herrin' passes
Ladies clad in silks and laces
Gaither in their braw pelises
Toss their heads and screw their faces

Buy my caller herrin', they're bonnie fish and halesome farin'
Buy my caller herrin' new drawn frae the Forth

Noo neebor wives come tent ma tellin'
When the bonnie fish you're sellin'
At a word be aye your dealin'
Truth will stand when a' things failin'

Buy my caller herrin', they're bonnie fish and halesome farin'
Buy my caller herrin' new drawn frae the Forth

Wha'll buy my caller herrin', they're no' brought here wi'oot brave darin'
Buy my caller herrin', ye little ken their worth

As sung by Cilla Fisher
(Original in the Penguin Book of Scottish Verse, 362f)

[1970:] Daughter of the Jacobite laird of Gask, in Perth, [Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766- 1845)] married her second cousin William Nairne in 1806. In 1824 he became sixth Lord Nairne on the restoration of the 'attainted' Scottish peerages. About eighty-seven songs carry her signature, originals and cobblings alike, and her range is very wide. Her Jacobite ones are sentimental yet sincere, and among her best liked. It was only after her death that the songs appeared in her own name instead of the pseudonym 'Mrs Bogan of Bogan'. (Penguin Book of Scottish Verse 15)

[1973:] Street-cries might almost be included among occupation-songs, since they are used in connection with a trade, i.e. to advertise wares for sale, but they are distinct from work-songs in that they do not accompany the physical actions of the worker. Londoners (at least those of the older generation) will be familiar with the cry of the lavender-seller, but this is only one of the many cries that used to be heard in the streets of London and other cities. Composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries used the themes in madrigals, catches, etc. [...]. The street-cry is an example of the way in which all constantly reiterated utterances tend to take on rhythmic and melodic form. Usually it consists of a small thematic fragment, which is repeated with slight variations [...]. (Karpeles, Introduction 65)

[1986:] Words by Lady Nairne (1766-1845). This song recalls the days the bells of St. Andrew's Church in Edinburgh could be heard, mingled with the cries of the fisherwomen selling their herring in the street. (Conway, 100 Songs 108)

[1986:] Written for the benefit of Neil Gow who had fallen on hard times. The manuscript was conveyed to Gow by Lady Nairne's Edinburgh correspondent (in a borrowed hand), and in a letter to that lady the authoress wrote: "If it is to be of any use to Nathaniel, perhaps it should be dedicated to the Duchess of Athole." The advice was followed.

The air is based on the traditional street cry of the Newhaven fisher lassies calling their wares in the streets of Edinburgh. (Notes Jean Redpath, 'Lady Nairne')

http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamnairne.htm (Neil Gow / Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne)