Fisherman's Blues


Fisherman's Blues is a 1988 album by The Waterboys. The album marked a change in the band's sound, with them abandoning their earlier grandiose rock sound for a mixture of traditional Irish music, traditional Scottish music, country music, and rock and roll. Critics were divided on its release with some disappointed at the change of direction and others ranking it among The Waterboys' best work. The album was the Waterboys' best selling album, reaching a number 13 placing on the U.K. charts on release, and 76 on the Billboard 200.

Production history

The history behind Fisherman's Blues begins with Steve Wickham's contribution to "The Pan Within" on the preceding Waterboys album This Is the Sea. Wickham joined the group officially in 1985 after This Is the Sea had been released. Mike Scott, The Waterboys' leader, spent time in Dublin with Wickham, and moved to Ireland in 1986. That year The Waterboys performed "Fisherman's Blues" on The Tube, which was the first time the new musical direction the band was taking was demonstrated.
The recording sessions for the album were lengthy and produced a great deal of music. The sessions began at Windmill Lane Studio in Dublin and lasted from January through March 1986. An additional session took place that December in San Francisco. From March to August 1987 The Waterboys were recording in Windmill Lane again. Scott moved to Galway and another year passed as the band recorded at Spiddal House, where Scott was living. The entire second side of the original record is made up of recordings from this 1988 session. The album was released that October. Scott describes the process; "We started recording our fourth album in early '86 and completed it 100 songs and 2 years later".
More songs from the album's recording sessions were released on Too Close to Heaven, or Fisherman's Blues, Part 2 as it was titled in the United States, in 2002 by BMG and Razor and Tie Entertainment, respectively. Other songs from the sessions were unreleased for years, including one of the defining tracks of sessions, "Higher In Time", a cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", "The Man With the Wind at His Heels", "Stranger to Me", "Saints and Angels", and "Born to Be Together". A remastered "Collector's Edition" with additional tracks was released in May 2006.
A 7-CD box set, containing 121 tracks from the album sessions including all those on the original record and subsequent editions, plus a further 85 unreleased tracks was released on 14 October 2013.

Songs

The title track reached third place on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. The single for the song reached position 32 on the UK singles charts in 1989 and position 75, when re-issued in 1991. Country music song "The Lost Highway", featuring Liam Ó Maonlaí on piano, appeared on the B-side. "Fisherman's Blues" was used on the pilot episode of the TV series Lights Out, and has appeared on the soundtracks of the movies Good Will Hunting, Waking Ned Devine and Dream with the Fishes. Actress Emilia Clarke performed a cover version for the film Dom Hemingway.
"Sweet Thing" is a "surprisingly successful" cover of a song by Van Morrison, originally from Morrison's 1968 album, Astral Weeks. The Waterboys' version on this album is a ; the song ends with the unplanned addition of verses from The Beatles' "Blackbird", which Scott impulsively sang on the spot. The Waterboys' cover of "Sweet Thing" also appeared on the second compact disc of the re-release of This Is the Sea.
"Strange Boat" lends its title to Ian Abrahams' biography of Mike Scott and The Waterboys, while the song "World Party" was the inspiration for Karl Wallinger's band name. It reached position 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, and was voted number 69 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Countdown of 1989.
Jimmy Hickey, of the instrumental song "Jimmy Hickey's Waltz", was a member of the album's production crew. The track begins with a recording of some conversation and laughter, which continues in the background as a violin begins to play a short waltz. The recording ends with some applause.
"And a Bang on the Ear", in which Scott summarizes a past romantic attachment in each verse, finishing the song with a current "woman of the hearthfire", was released as the second single from the album. A live version of "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" made up the B-side. A studio version of "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" would appear on The Waterboys' next album Room to Roam. The single was chosen as a Radio One "Single of the Week", but failed to chart. Confusion amongst listeners about what a bang on the ear might be about prompted The Waterboys' Frequently Asked Questions page to note, more than ten years later, that it was "a term of affection". A "bang" means a kiss and this Irish phrase of "bang on the ear" can best be considered equivalent to the more common phrase "peck on the cheek".
"Has Anybody Here Seen Hank" is a country music tribute to Hank Williams, listening to whom Scott described as "a life-changing experience". The Waterboys had previously paid tribute to a different influence on Scott, Patti Smith, with the song "A Girl Called Johnny" on their first album, The Waterboys.
"Dunford's Fancy" was written by Wickham for Steve Dunford, brother to Waterboys producer John Dunford.
"The Stolen Child" was the first William Butler Yeats poem that The Waterboys put to music. Another Yeats poem "Love and Death" appeared on Dream Harder in 1993. "The Stolen Child", spoken by traditional Irish vocalist Tomás Mac Eoin with backup vocals by Scott, remains the group's "most famous poetic rendition".
The final song is only a brief snippet of the Woody Guthrie folk song "This Land Is Your Land" with some of the American place names replaced with Irish ones.

Accolades

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Fisherman's Blues (1988)

  1. "Fisherman's Blues" – 4:26
  2. "We Will Not Be Lovers" – 7:03
  3. "Strange Boat" – 3:06
  4. "World Party" – 4:01
  5. "Sweet Thing" – 7:14
  6. "Jimmy Hickey's Waltz" – 2:06
  7. "And a Bang on the Ear" – 9:14
  8. "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?" – 3:19
  9. "When Will We Be Married?" – 3:01
  10. "When Ye Go Away" – 3:45
  11. "Dunford's Fancy" – 1:04
  12. "The Stolen Child" – 6:55
  13. "This Land Is Your Land" – 0:56
Jimmy Hickey's Waltz not present on 1988 Ensign vinyl release. Though it is not listed at the back of the 1988 CD box, it features on the Ensign disc and in the booklet with full credits..

Collector's Edition Bonus disk track list (2006)

All tracks written by Mike Scott except as indicated.
  1. "Carolan's Welcome" – 2:48
  2. "Killing My Heart" – 3:52
  3. "You in the Sky" – 5:46
  4. "When Will We Be Married?" – 2:38
  5. "Nobody 'Cept You" – 3:03
  6. "Fisherman's Blues" – 5:48
  7. "Girl of the North Country" – 4:24
  8. "Lonesome and a Long Way From Home" – 3:04
  9. "If I Can't Have You" – 3:30
  10. "Rattle My Bones and Shiver My Soul" – 2:38
  11. "Let Me Feel Holy Again" – 6:10
  12. "Meet Me at the Station" – 3:22
  13. "The Good Ship Sirius" – 00:42
  14. "Soon as I Get Home" – 12:03

    Fisherman's Box – 25th Anniversary Edition (2013)

;Disc 1 'Dublin 23 January 1986':
  1. "Stranger to Me"
  2. "Girl of the North Country"
  3. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
  4. "Fisherman's Blues
  5. "Fisherman's Blues"
  6. "Meet Me At the Station"
  7. "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
  8. "Born to Be Together"
  9. "The Wayward Wind"
  10. "World Party"
  11. "World Party / A Golden Age"
  12. "Sleek White Schooner"
  13. "Drunken Head Ghost of Rimbaud Blues"
  14. "Sweet Thing"
  15. "Sweet Thing"
  16. "Saints and Angels"
;Disc 2 'Dublin, March 22 To September 13, 1986':
  1. "We Will Not Be Lovers"
  2. "One Step Closer"
  3. "My Beautiful Baby"
  4. "She Could Have Had Me Step By Step"
  5. "When the Ship Comes In"
  6. "The Ladder"
  7. "Will You Ever Be My Friend?"
  8. "Too Close to Heaven"
  9. "Higherbound"
  10. "Happy Birthday B.P. Fallon"
  11. "The Prettiest Girl in Church"
  12. "You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight the War"
  13. "Dee Jay Way"
  14. "Lonesome and a Long Way from Home"
  15. "Thistlethwaite's Declaration"
  16. "Strange Boat"
  17. "Lost Highway"
  18. "Higherbound Blues"
  19. "Let Us Be Drinking and Kissing the Women "
  20. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"
  21. "Tenderfootin'"
  22. "Too Close to Heaven"
  23. "Space Out There, Trevor"
;Disc 3 'Berkeley, California, 2–7 December 1986':
  1. "Steve and Anto's Overture"
  2. "Ain't Leavin, I'm Gone"
  3. "When Will We Be Married"
  4. "When I First Said I Loved Only You, Maggie"
  5. "Love Is Letting Go"
  6. "On My Way to Heaven"
  7. "You in the Sky"
  8. "The Secret Place of the Most High"
  9. "Too Hot for Cleanhead"
  10. "Wickham's Proclamation"
  11. "Blues for Your Baby"
  12. "Lonesome Old Wind"
  13. "If Jimi Was Here"
  14. "Soon As I Get Home"
  15. "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
;Disc 4 'Dublin, 20 December 1986 To 28 February 1987':
  1. "Billy the Kid"
  2. "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down"
  3. "Come Live With Me"
  4. "I Miss the Road"
  5. "Higher in Time"
  6. "Too Hot for Cleanhead"
  7. "Higher in Time"
  8. "Higherbound"
  9. "A Golden Age"
  10. "You in the Sky"
  11. "I Will Meet You in Heaven Again"
  12. "Nobody 'Cept You"
  13. " Jimmy Shand"
  14. "Rattle My Bones and Shiver My Soul"
  15. "The Scotsman's Delight"
  16. "Killing My Heart"
  17. "Industrial Mr Brown"
  18. "Custer's Blues"
  19. "Shall We Gather By the River"
  20. "Higher in Time Symphony"
;Disc 5 'Dublin, 7 March To 18 November 1987':
  1. "Higherbound"
  2. "The Grief of Pan"
  3. "World Party"
  4. "Working On a Building"
  5. "If I Can't Have You"
  6. "Killing My Heart"
  7. "Trunk Call"
  8. "Headphone Mix Song"
  9. "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
  10. "When Will We Be Married"
  11. "BP's Bathtub Boogie"
  12. "We Will Not Be Lovers"
  13. "Heading Down the Highway"
  14. "Strange Boat"
  15. "Fisherman's Blues"
  16. "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?"
  17. "On My Way to Heaven"
  18. "Let Me Feel Holy Again"
  19. "A Home In The Meadow"
  20. "Strange Boat" / "The Good Ship Sirius"
  21. "The Stolen Child"
;Disc 6 'Dublin & Spiddal, 30 March To 2 June 1988':
  1. "On My Way to Tara"
  2. "Twa Recruitin' Sergeants"
  3. "Incident at Puck Fair"
  4. "And a Bang On The Ear"
  5. "Mr Customs Man"
  6. "Strange Boat"
  7. "Spring Comes To Spiddal"
  8. "In Search of a Rose"
  9. "The Stolen Child"
  10. "When Will We Be Married"
  11. "In Search of a Rose"
  12. "The Good Ship Sirius"
  13. "This Land Is Your Land"
  14. "Jimmy Hickey's Waltz"
  15. "Live Aid and After"
  16. "Carolan's Welcome"
  17. "When Ye Go Away"
  18. "When Ye Go Away"
  19. "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?"
  20. "The Stolen Child"
  21. "Dunford's Fancy"
  22. "The Stolen Child"
  23. "Pictish National Anthem "
  24. "Bo Diddley Was a Caveman"
  25. "The Last Jam"
  26. "Buckets of Rain"
''The Deluxe Edition Box Set contains 6 CDs.
;Disc 7 'Fisherman's Roots' :
  1. Blind Roger Hays – "On My Way to Heaven", 1928
  2. Brother Williams Memphis Sanctified Singers – "Meet Me at the Station", 1930
  3. The Carter Family – "Can the Circle Be Unbroken?", 1935
  4. The Guitar Evangelist – "The Gospel Train Is Coming", 1936
  5. Woody Guthrie – "This Land Is Your Land", 1944
  6. Hank Williams – "Honky Tonkin'", 1947
  7. Two Gospel Keys – "I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore", 1948
  8. Hank Williams – "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", 1949
  9. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – "Lost Highway", 1972
  10. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Mother Maybelle Carter – "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?", 1972
  11. Planxty – "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy/Tabhair dom do Lámh", 1973
  12. Dé Danann – "Maggie", 1981
  13. The Scottish Fiddlers of Los Angeles – "Carolan’s Welcome", 1982
  14. Noel Hill & Tony Mac Mahon – "The Humours of Castlefin", 1985
  15. Dónal Lunny – "Across The Hill/Gold Ring", 1987
  16. Thomas Mac Eoin – "An Cailin Alainn ", 1987
The Super Deluxe Edition Box Set contains 7 CDs and a vinyl LP of Fisherman's Blues.

Personnel

The cover displays a number of the contributors. From left to right, back to front, are: Jake Kennedy, Colin Blakey, Pat McCarthy, Jimmy Hickey, John Dunford, Trevor Hutchinson, Fran Breen, Anthony Thistlethwaite, Mike Scott, and Steve Wickham.