Fisherman’s daughter from over the water, The

AKAThe Fisherman’s daughter
First Published1868

Writer/composerSam BagnallRoudRN7417

Music Hall PerformersNellie Power
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Short, Mrs Lilian; USA : Missouri; 1940
I've been caught in a net by a dear little pet,
And her eyes are as blue as the deep rolling sea,
She's a Fisherman's daughter, she lives o'er the water,
She's going to be married next Sunday to me.
She's rare as the salmon, there's really no gammon,
As sweet as shrimps newly served up for tea;
My soul she has caught, and a place I have bought,
Where a ray of bright sunshine for ever will be.

She's a Fishermans daughter, she lives o'er the water,
She's going to be married next Sunday to me.
She's a Fishermans daughter, she lives o'er the water,
She's going to be married next Sunday to me.

She's barefooted and pretty, shes lively and witty,
She sings her wild songs to the murmuring sea;
She'll dance on the sands where the Fishermen stands,
And join in the music of a wild swelling glee,
She sits in her boat, and scuds o'er the billows,
And flirts with the spray like a sea-skimming gull,
She laughs at the winds—whose revels are music,
And beats to the time with the stroke of her scull.

The bells they shall ring, and the sailors shall sing,
Y-heave ho! y-heave ho, boys! for time's on the wing,
To see pretty Sarah the pride of the sea.
Who's going to be married next Sunday to me.
Her hair I will deck with a wreath of bright seaweed,
I'll plant in her bosom a blooming moss rose;
She shall go like a fairy with sweet tinkling music,
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,

Sam Bagnall wrote and composed this comic/romantic vehicle for fishy puns, most associated with the singing of Nelly Power . Not to be confused with the Samuel Lover ballad The fisherman’s daughter (RN23079) or JE Carpenter’s Poor Fanny the fisherman’s daughter (RNV16813).

The song was widely published both in America and the British Isles, both as sheet music and cheap street literature. It has been collected once in 1940 from the singing of Lillian Short in the USA.

Nelly Power (1854-87) was an early male impressionist, the original singer of the song The boy I love is in the gallery, before Marie Lloyd took it up. The daughter of a railway clerk she began performing when she was eight years old, achieving some early success by mimicking George Leybourne, singing songs like Up in a balloon. She appeared on the theatre stage as a principal boy but fell out of fashion for a while before her career was revived when she had a hit with the song La Di Da.- The City Toff (RNV38931) in the early 1880s. Despite this success she died almost penniless, aged 32.

[Contemporary sources tended to use the spelling Nelly Power, whilst often modern authors use the spelling Nellie]

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