Fisherman's Blues is the 1988 album by The Waterboys. The album marked a change in the sound of The Waterboys', abandoning their earlier grandiose rock sound for a mixture of traditional Irish 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.[1] The album went on to become the Waterboys' best selling album, despite reaching only number thirteen in the U.K. charts on release, and position seventy-six 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 (see 1988 in music). Scott describes the process; "We started recording our fourth album in early '86 and completed it 100 songs and 2 years later".[2]
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 remain unreleased, including 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".[1] A remastered "Collector's Edition" with additional tracks was released in May 2006.
Songs
The title track reached third place on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. The single for the song reached position thirty two on the UK singles charts in 1989 and position seventy five, when re-issued in 1991. Country music song "The Lost Highway" was the B-side, and featured Liam O'Maonlai on the piano. "Fisherman's Blues" has appeared on the soundtracks of the movies Good Will Hunting and Waking Ned Devine.
"Sweet Thing" is a "surprisingly successful"[3] cover of a song by Van Morrison, originally from Morrison's 1968 album, Astral Weeks. The Waterboys' version on this album is a medley; the song ends with the unplanned addition of verses from The Beatles' "Blackbird," which Scott impulsively sang on the spot. The Waterboy's 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,[4] while the song "World Party" was the inspiration for Karl Wallinger's band name. It reached position nineteen on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, and was voted number sixty-nine on the KROQ Top 106.7 Countdown of 1989.[5]
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".[6] 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".[7] 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.[8]
"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", sung by traditional Irish vocalist Tomás Mac Eoin with backup vocals by Scott, remains the group's "most famous poetic rendition".[9]
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.
Track listing
Scott (left) and Wickham (right) collaborated on songwriting for
Fisherman's Blues.
The original release had thirteen tracks, with both rock music and traditional Irish music influences.
- "Fisherman's Blues" (Mike Scott, Steve Wickham) – 4:26
- "We Will not be Lovers" (Scott) – 7:03
- "Strange Boat" (Scott, Anthony Thistlethwaite) – 3:06
- "World Party" (Scott, Trevor Hutchinson, Karl Wallinger) – 4:01
- "Sweet Thing" (Van Morrison) – 7:14
- "Jimmy Hickey's Waltz" (Scott, Wickham, Thistlethwaite) – 2:06
- "And a Bang on the Ear" (Scott, Wickham, Thistlethwaite) – 7:32
- "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank" (Scott) – 3:19
- "When Will We Be Married" (Traditional, adapted: Scott, Thistlethwaite) – 3:01
- "When Ye Go Away" (Scott) – 3:45
- "Dunford's Fancy" (Wickham) – 1:04
- "The Stolen Child" (Words: W.B. Yeats, Music: Scott) – 6:55
- "This Land Is Your Land" (Woody Guthrie) – 0:56
Bonus disk track list
- "Carolan's Welcome"
- "Killing My Heart"
- "You In The Sky"
- "When Will We Be Married?"
- "Nobody 'Cept You"
- "Fisherman’s Blues"
- "Girl Of The North Country"
- "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home"
- "If I Can't Have You"
- "Rattle My Bones And Shiver My Soul"
- "Let Me Feel Holy Again"
- "Meet Me At The Station"
- "The Good Ship Sirius"
- "Soon As I Get Home (Roscoe's Corner)"
Personnel
The cover displays a number of the contributors. From left to right, back to front, are: Jake Kennedy (crew), Colin Blakey, Pat McCarthy (recording engineer), Jimmy Hickey (crew), John Dunford (co-producer), Trevor Hutchinson, Fran Breen, Anthony Thistlethwaite, Mike Scott, and Steve Wickham.[6]
- Mike Scott - vocals, guitar, piano, hammond organ, drums, bouzouki
- Anthony Thistlethwaite - saxophone, mandolin, harmonica, hammond organ
- Steve Wickham - violin
- Trevor Hutchinson - bass guitar, double bass
- Roddy Lorimer - trumpet
- Kevin Wilkinson - drums
- Peter McKinney - drums
- Dave Ruffy - drums
- Colin Blakey - piano, flute, border horn
- Fran Breen - drums
- Vinnie Kilduff - guitar
- Noel Bridgeman - tambourine, congas
- Jay Dee Daugherty - drums
- Mairtín O'Connor - accordion
- Alec Finn - bouzouki
- Charlie Lennon - violin
- Brendan O'Regan - bouzouki
- Tomás Mac Eoin - vocals
- Paraig Stevens - bells
- Jenne Haan - vocals
- Ruth Nolan - vocals
- Rachel Nolan - vocals
- The Abergavenny Male Voice Choir - vocals
Notes and references
External links
