Words: Chip Wilson
Music: Chip Wilson arr. the London Sea Shanty Collective

Written by our very own Chip Wilson about the fishing superstitions of his native Hull. Bad luck was linked to, among other things, the colour green, whistling, carrying money when setting sail, washing clothes on sailing day and saying the word “pig”. In a deadly industry, all too often these meant that women carried the blame for the risks taken by captains or the shortcuts taken by ship-owners.

There’s a window on Scarborough Street
And it looks out to the east, and it looks out to the east
There’s a red dawn in the sky over Scarborough Street
And it bleeds into the sea, and it bleeds into the sea

Oh my Jack is coming home, my Jack is coming home,
Jack should now be home, Jack should now be home, Jack should now be home

There’s a red dawn in the sky over Scarborough Street
And it bleeds into the sea, and it bleeds into the sea
And my mother called me bad, for my bonnet was green
On the day he went to sea, on the day he went to sea

And my mother called me bad, for my bonnet was green
On the day he went to sea, on the day he went to sea
And my father said to me: women whistle too free
Should never walk along the quay, should never walk along the quay

And my father said to me: women whistle too free
Should never walk along the quay, should never walk along the quay
And I washed his clothes on the day he left me
So have I drowned him in the sea, have I drowned him in the sea?

There’s a sea fret so thick on Scarborough Street
I’m doing all I can to see, I’m doing all I can to see
There’s a shape of a man through the fret nearing me
There is something in his hand, I’m doing all I can to stand