I don't know... but in my mithic mind, songs, or shanties like this are to keep or rise the spirit up in those strange depressed foggy moonlight in the middle of pacific nights... I don't know... this video quite fairly capture the real thing... One can't ask to sing "with more soul"... this is the soul of the thing as long as we have the "meister" guiding the song... and making we sing along to put the big sad away lolz
Come all ye young sailors and listen to me, I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea, (Chorus) And it's windy weather boys, stormy weather boys, When the wind blows, we're all together boys, Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds blow, Jolly southwester boys steady she goes. Up comes the eel with his slippery tail, climbs up the loft and reaps the top sail, [Chorus] Up comes the shark with his nine rows of teeth, saying you eat the dough boys and I'll eat the beef, [Chorus] Up comes the lobster with his heavy claws, breaking the main mast with his jaws, [Chorus] Up comes the halibut flat on the deck, saying hey mister captain don't step on my neck, [Chorus] Up comes the codfish with his cockle head, running the rails and slinging the lead, [Chorus] Up comes the herring, the king of the sea, now all you fishes now you follow me, [Chorus] Up comes the octopus suckers on legs, he'll give you all eight of them to drink a keg, [Chorus] Up comes the whale the largest of all, if you want ye some wind then I'll blow ye a squall, [Chorus]
Alpha863 Leader you can extend this song adding several different types of fish, hence the name Fish in the sea. this song can go on for a while from what I read on it.
Most traditional songs like these can have hundreds of verses you can sing. Through the years, new singers create new ones or remake old ones, so sometimes two versions of the same song can have completely different lyrics.
