When ye were sleepin on your pillows,
Dream'd ye aught o our puir fellows,
Darkling as they faced the billows,
Aa to fill the woven willows!
Buy my caller herrin
They're bonnie fish and halesome farin,
Wha'll buy my caller herrin,
New drawn frae the Forth.
O when the creel o herrin passes
Ladies clad in silk and laces,
Gather in their braw pelisses,
Cast their heids and screw their faces.
Buy my caller herrin
They're bonnie fish and halesome farin,
Wha'll buy my caller herrin,
New drawn frae the Forth.
O neighbour wives now tent my tellin,
When the bonnie fish ye're sellin,
At a word aye be your dealin,
Truth will stand when a' thing's failin.
Buy my caller herrin,
They're nae brought here without brave darin,
Buy my caller herrin,
Ye little ken their worth:
Buy my caller herrin.
O ye may ca' them vulgar farin
Wives and mithers maist despairin,
Ca them lives o men.