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The Final Trawl (song) - Live

from The Grey Coast (Live EP) by Hamish Napier

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'The Final Trawl' by Archie Fisher

Scottish songwriter Archie Fisher wrote The Final Trawl inspired by a pair of rusting decommissioned fishing boats off Scrabster Harbour in the north coast of Scotland - 'The Venture' and the 'Morning Star' (pictured run-aground on this EP cover)'. He recorded it on his 1988 album with Gamet Rogers 'Off the Map' where he noted: "The death of a boat is the first casualty in the decline of a fishing community. This song is dedicated to all of the hardy fisherfolk at sea and ashore."

EP cover photo kindly donated by Camilla Elder Wick, Caithness, taken by her father Gordon Alexander in 1963 - the day local fishing boats attempted to tug the Morning Star free after it ran aground on Proudfoot, Wick Bay, Caithness

'The Final Trawl' I learned from my brother Findlay and sister-in-law Gillian Frame. We recorded it years ago back in 2005 with folk quartet Back of the Moon on an album called Luminosity - our last (and my favourite) of our three studio albums. Gillian sings lead on it beautifully:

backofthemoon.bandcamp.com/track/the-final-trawl

I also recorded it live in 2014 with Nae Plans (my daredevil, unplanned, spontaneous free-for-all on stage jam session duo with maverick fiddler Adam Sutherland). We called it 'Fisherman's Singalong'. You can listen here:

naeplans.bandcamp.com/track/fishermans-singalong-hatton-castle-angus

lyrics

The Final Trawl (Archie Fisher arr Back of the Moon)

Now it's three long years since we made her pay
Sing haul away my laddie O
And the owners say that she's had her day
And sing haul away my laddie O

So heave away for the final trawl
Sing haul away my laddie O
It's an easy pull for the catch is small
And sing haul away my laddie O

Then stow your gear, lads, and batten down
Sing haul away my laddie O
I'll tak the wheel an' I'll turn her 'round
And sing haul away my laddie O

We'll join the Venture and the Morning Star
Sing haul away my laddie O
Riding high and empty towards the bar
And sing haul away my laddie O

For I'd rather beach her on the Skerry rock
Sing haul away my laddie O
Than to see her torched in the breaker's dock
And sing haul away my laddie O

And when I die you can stow me down
In her rusty hold where the breakers pound
Haul away
Haul away

I'll make the haven of the Fiddler's Green
Sing haul away my laddie O
Where the grub is good, and the bunks are clean
And sing haul away my laddie O

For I've fished a lifetime, boy and man
Sing haul away my laddie O
And the final trawl scarcely makes a cran
And sing haul away my laddie O

credits

from The Grey Coast (Live EP), released August 31, 2023
'The Final Trawl' by Archie Fisher

Arranged by Hamish Napier

Recorded live by sound engineer Alan 'Dinner' Mackinnon at Gairloch Community Hall, June 2023.

Mixed and Mastered by Andrea Gobbi at Carrier Waves and GloWorm Recording, Glasgow.

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Hamish Napier Grantown On Spey, UK

Hamish is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from the Scottish Highlands.

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