SILVER DARLINGS –
Poem by Andy Hulskamer, 1970. Music by Jim McLean (recorded
by Alastair McDonald). “This poem
was only written by Hulskamer as Bob
Halfin merely supplied the words to me. Bob was a London Music Publisher and got
his name on the credits as his ‘reward’ for finding the poem,” Jim McLean.
Oh herrings are harvests that fishermen glean,
Where flashes the silver through deep oceans green,
And when herring harvests reach old Aberdeen,
They're known as the silver darlings
Chorus:
Silver darlings on Aberdeen quay,
Brought by the fishermen home from the sea
To the city that stands 'twixt the Don and the Dee,
The home of the Silver Darlings.
The boats leave the harbor their wakes spreading wide,
And empty they roll with the swell of the tide.
Oh soon may their hatches be thrown open wide
With a catch of the silver darlings.
There’s ice on the rigging and death down below,
With the gales screaming wild and the glass hanging low.
The wives and the sweethearts are women who know
The price of the silver darlings.