page_title: The Cullercoats Fish Lass
section_title: Lyrics
hierarchical_section_title: The Cullercoats Fish Lass / Lyrics
caption_attribution_description: English: Hand written lyrics for the song, Cullercoats Fish Lass, by Edward Corvan
context_page_description: The Cullercoats Fish Lass Is a folk song, written by Edward Corvan, originally printed as a broadside in 1862 and collated in Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings in 1891.
  Fish Lass is a Geordie term for a fishwife. The Cullercoats Fish Lass was a term for a fishwife from Cullercoats, a small fishing village near the mouth of the Tyne. The Cullercoats Fish Lass was popular with locals and tourists alike.
  Jean F Terry wrote, in 1913, "The Cullercoats fishwife, with her cheerful weather-bronzed face, her short jacket and ample skirts of blue flannel, and her heavily laden "creel" of fish is not only appreciated by the brotherhood of brush and pencil, but is one of the notable sights of the district".
context_section_description: Verse:
  
      Aw's a Cullercoats fish-lass, se cozy an' free
  
      Browt up in a cottage close on by the sea;
  
      An' aw sell fine fresh fish ti poor an' ti rich--
  Chorus:
  
      Will ye buy, will ye buy, will ye buy maw fresh fish?
  Spoken:
  
      Finne codlin's hinny; cheaper for hyem consumption thin butcher
  
      meat.  There's fine mackerel. come. Mistor, ye shall hae them at
  
      yor awn price, but the sea's up.  Aw's sure, fish just  noo's as
  
      bad to catch iz husbands; and a greet deal warse ti sell.
  Sings chorus:
  
      Will ye buy, will ye buy, will ye buy my fresh fish?
  Imitate cries:
  
      D'ye want a-n-y fish?
  Verse:
  
      Byeth barefoot and barelegged aw trudge mony a week,
  
      Wi' a creel on mee back an' a bloom on mee cheek;
  
      Aw'll supply ye wi' flat fish, fine skyet, or fresh ling,
  
      And sometimes pennywilks, crabs, an' lobsters aw bring.
  Chorus:
  
      Will ye buy, will ye buy? etc.
  Verse:
  
      Aw work hard for mee livin', frev a frind aw ne'er begs,
  
      An' aw huff the young gents when they peep at my legs;
  
      Aw's hilthy an' hansom, quite willin' and strong,
  
      To toil for my livin', cryin' fish the day long.
  Spoken:
  
      That's what aw cawl fishin' for a livin'. But tawkin'
  
      aboot fish, thor's as queer fish on land as there's in the sea--
  
      Gladstone, Tom Sayers, and Blondin-aw cawl  them star-fish,
  
      that baits the public ti sum tuin.  Folks that neglects to visit
  
      Balmbra's Music Saloon, aw consider them flat-fish.  Mackey's
  
      men they're dry fish; ye can tell by their gills.  Sailors, they're
  
      salt fish, that shund always keep a wether eye on land-sharks.
  
      Volunteers, they're fresh fish, who, with wor sowigers and sailors, myek
  
      up wor sole defenders.  As for me, with yor kind favours, aw'd be like a fish
  
      oot o' wetter-aye, whei! Aw's a maiden fish oot iv her teens
  
      in sairch ov a husband to myek me comfortable.  Aw want ti teyk
  
      moorins for life in the roads an' channels o' matrimony.
  Sings chorus:
  
      Will ye buy, will ye buy? etc.
  Tune: "Lilla's a Lady".
caption: Hand written lyrics of "The Cullercoats Fishlass", by Ned Corvan, 1862.
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