Candlelight Fisherman

Peter Kennedy noted down this song from the Norfolk storyteller Phil Hamond of Morston, Norfolk in 1952. The words of the chorus are a recent addition by Peter and the words and the music were partly composed by Major Hamond, but the expression "Candlelight Fisherman" was once widely used to describe a lazy fisherman. The term is still used at Mevagissey in Cornwall.
 
Candlelight Fisherman
 
 
O, my dad was a fisherman bold
And he lived till he grew old
Cause he’d
Open the pane and pop out the flame
Just to see how the wind do blow.
 
And he’d often say to me.
You'd be wise before you go
Just to  
Open the pane …
 
When the north winds roughly blow
Then I lay right snug below
But I
Open the pane …
 
When the wind blows from the east.
You'll be looking for sleet and snow.
But I
Open the pane …
 
When the wind backs in the west.
That'll come a-rough in at best,
But I
Open the pane …
 
When the south winds softly blow,
It's then I love to go
And I
Open the pane …
 
And my poor wife says to me.
We shall starve if you don't go
So I
Open the pane …
 
Ah, now all you fishermen bold,
If you'd live till you grow old,
You must
Open the pane …