Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues

With this band…I’ve heard their name more than I heard their music. I’ve seen several bloggers post about them and I always liked the songs. This one I liked when I heard it a few years ago. It’s a band I’ve always wanted to hear more so I did this weekend a little. After listening to this album…I see what the fuss is about. This song in particular has so many influences and Mike Scott’s voice has a perfect edge to it. 

The Waterboys were formed in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott, the band’s leader and primary songwriter. Over the years, their music has evolved through different phases, blending rock, folk, and Celtic influences. Fisherman’s Blues was the title track of their album released in 1988. 

The band had become deeply immersed in traditional Irish music, influenced by musicians like The Bothy Band, The Chieftains, and Van Morrison. On this album they were helped out by a rotating lineup of musicians to help fill out the sound. They recorded 100 songs for this album. 

Mike Scott disbanded The Waterboys in 1993 and pursued a solo career. The 1993 album Dream Harder was released under The Waterboys’ name but was essentially a Mike Scott solo album. They regrouped in 2000 and released an album called A Rock in the Weary Land. 

Fisherman’s Blues peaked at #20 in New Zealand and #32 in the UK in 1988. The album peaked at #15 in New Zealand, #76 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #13 in the UK

Mike Scott: We started recording our fourth album in early ’86 and completed it 100 songs and 2 years later. There was a lot of indecision. I got too involved in the album and I lost perspective. We had blues songs, gospel songs, country songs, rock songs and ballads. I didn’t know where to take it. It could’ve been a gospel or country album. It could’ve sounded more like This Is the Sea or it could’ve been a traditional album. It could’ve been anything.”

Mike Scott: American music has influenced me more than I can say, but I prefer the music you made from 1920 to 1970—jazz, Broadway, blues, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, proper R&B, counterculture, soul—than anything made since. And what do you lot think of me? Ain’t got a clue.

Fisherman’s Blues

I wish I was a fishermanTumblin’ on the seasFar away from dry landAnd it’s bitter memories

Castin’ out my sweet lineWith abandonment and loveNo ceiling bearin’ down on meSave the starry sky above

With light in my headWith you in my armsI wish I was the brakemanOn a hurtlin fevered train

Crashin head long into the heartlandLike a cannon in the rainWith the feelin of the sleepersAnd the burnin of the coal

Countin the towns flashin byAnd a night that’s full of soulWith light in my headWith you in my arms

And I know I will be loosenedFrom the bonds that hold me fastAnd the chains all around meWill fall away at last

And on that grand and fateful dayI will take thee in my handI will ride on a trainI will be the fisherman

With light in my headYou in my armsLight in my headYou in my arms

Light in my headYouWith light in my headYou in my arms

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

40 thoughts on “Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues”

  2. Pingback: Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues – MobsterTiger

  4. I’m like you, I heard things about this group, but not a lot of actual music. I did hear this and something else, it seems like. I always lump them together with Hothouse Flowers in my mind, even though it’s Scotland vs Ireland. Same time frame, I think. Good song, all in all.

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  6. I probably would never of heard of these guys if not for my best buddy being of Irish descent and therefore a big booster of the music. That said I would not have been able to name a song from them.

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  7. loved the waterboys…but being where I am there are sooo many bands that were and are still mining the same material…..the Rankin Family, Spirit of the West, the Paperboys, Rawlins Cross, Leahy, Captain Tractor…though I will say I do love the waterboys version of the Raggle Taggle Gypsy…..thinking of some of the artists you cover, wondering if the Blue Shadows have come up?…An act that Billy Cowsell put together (yes that Billy Cowsell) after a pretty rough life…..more R&B than just blues, Cowsell eventually passed away.

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    1. Warren you did it again…I just played The Blue Shadows – Deliver Me….what a great song! It’s like power pop mixed with Americana. You will be seeing them in the future.
      Oh you mean the Cowsills? Wow. Totally different.

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      1. yeah, the Cowsills (the inspiration for the Partridge Family) he looked a lot different when I got to interview him in the mid 1990s…..he had a rough life in the States (I think Austin) drugs and living rough, but a great interview, I was surprised how much he knew of the Canadian music scene….he was also in a band called the Co-Dependents, sometimes refered to as Billy Cowsill’s Train Wreck

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      2. I’m listening to some of them right now… yea I would have NEVER guessed he was from the Cowsills….ever.

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  9. I agree with Glyn, they are the only two songs by the Waterboys I know well, like ‘The whole of the moon’ a bit better but this is a decent song, very Celtic , has a seafaring, fisherman kind of feel to it beyond its lyrics

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    1. I like this one a lot…I’ll check out the other though because I want to hear it. I like a lot of their songs on this album now after listening to it. Never too late to learn lol.

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  11. “I wish I was the brakeman on a hurtlin diesel train”.

    Stole my thunder with the live cut. Scott solo and Waterboys are never far from my music box. Lobos and Waterboys. Good day for music. I have no defense for Thistlethwaite’s fiddle. Im swept up every time.

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    1. Someone else mentioned the fiddle today. I love how they combined a slight Americana with a Celtic feel…so many different influences going on with this album.
      That is a great line!

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  15. Great song, Max, I instantly loved when I heard it back in 1988. I also remember borrowing the CD from somebody and taping it on music cassette. I liked the entire album, though I haven’t listened to it since the late ’80s.

    The great Karl Wallinger, of World Party fame, was an early member of The Waterboys from 1983 to 1985. He still played on the predecessor “This Is the Sea” but by the time they recorded “Fisherman’s Blues,” he already had left.

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  16. Pingback: Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues – Los Angeles fire 🔥

  17. Celtic meets Sultans of Swing. I didn’t know of these lads, but I do like their song. I’ve always loved the Irish, Scottish, English mix of traditional music, the sort of music that is still played in Appalachia. Old folk music that came across the pond. Good pick.

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  19. I have fond memories of hearing Whole Of The Moon in 1989 on a touring holiday of the North-East USA. Lake Champlain, Vermont, record store in a college town. Fisherman’s Blues I liked at the time, not heard it in decades! I just bought Waterboys’ ltest single this week though, it’s a very sweet 50’s-ish song about Andy Warhol (Andy it’s called)

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