Family Job
sł.: Ian Woods
My father's father used to sit just beside the bar.
Even though fishing 's not what it used to be. Shooting the nets, fold after fold, Fighting to fill the main hold. Of how many cran, how many stone he took from the sea. His mates all smiled and nodded, and they tipped a wink or two And at twelve years old I thought myself a member of the crew.
Tomorrow morning you can start to learn the family way. Sure enough next morning we put out to sea And for six long months all I did was brewed the bloody tea.
I was a deckie I fished and cursed, faced the bruising waves, I earned my share, got paid my share like any man alive I paid with my fingers; one to the wires, one to the gutting knives.
You could see them following the whitebait in a good ground swell And the money kept cascading in like herring's silver scales, Enough for a house, enough for a boat and a little bit left for ale.
For the French and Spaniards come along with their deep sea stuff. And the Russians grinding all to meal with floating factories And many 's the local boat laid up, rusting at the quay.
And the way the fishing's going it'll likely get much worse, But it's the only thing I know, it's my old family job And I'll stick at it as long as I can earn a couple of bob.
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I. W.