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The springtime of the year is come,
Once more we must away,
Out on the stormy Banks to go
In quest of fish to stay.
Where seas do roll tremendously
Like mountain peaks so high,
And the wild sea-birds around us
In their mad career go by.
Out there we spend our summer months
Midst heavy fog and wind,
And often do our thoughts go back
To the dear ones left behind.
From where the wild sea billows foam,
There by cold breezes fanned,
Out on the stormy billows
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
At midnight when the sky is dark
And heavy clouds do frown,
It's then we stand great danger
Of our craft being soon run down.
By some large greyhound of the deep
That rushes madly by.
It's then we trust our lives
To kind Providence on high.
It's when those summer toils are o'er
We return with spirits light
To see our sweethearts and our wives
Who helped us in the fight.
From where the wild sea billows foam,
There by cold breezes fanned,
Out on the stormy billows
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
Collected in 1952 from Jim Rice [1879-1958] of Cape Broyle, NL, by Kenneth Peacock, and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.108-109, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
Kenneth Peacock noted that this is the most lyrical of all the songs and ballads in his collection. As far as he knew, it had never been collected elsewhere, so he claimed it as a native Newfoundland song.
The YouTube video above features a variant by Tickle Harbour with lead vocalist Fergus O'Byrne (Batteries Included, trk#5, 1998, produced by Don Walsh at Dadyeen Studios, St. John's, NL, SOCAN).
