Three Jolly Fishermen

I first heard this fine chorus song hailing from North Yorkshire, in 1967 whilst living in Leeds, when I was one of the resident singers at the Folk Club that was then grandly called, ‘The Yorkshire Folk Centre’. This song, along with ‘The Bonny Hawthorn’ was collected by Bob Pegg, from Frank Weatherill, a retired stone mason of Danby, on the North York Moors near Whitby. The songs first appeared in the publication, ‘Abe’s Folk Music, Vol.6 No.1.’ They were transcribed from the recorded conversation Bob had with Mr. Weatherill, on 9/11/67, who was then in his 70’s. Mr. Weatherill was also a mainly self-taught musician who played the violin, cello and piano at local dances, weddings and other social functions.

Mr Weatherill said, ‘Three Jolly Fishermen’, was usually sung by groups of people and recalled that the lines of the chorus, ‘You’ll be too late.’
and ‘I cannot wait’ were sung solo. This song appears to have been known a bit more widely than ‘The Bonny Hawthorn’, versions of it having been collected in Danby, Littlebeck, Levisham and on the coast at Runswick Bay