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[Verse 1]
Dm                                C
Oh you who look down on me with that judgement in your eyes
          Dm                             C
While the jury picks its fate for me I'd have you save your sighs
      F            Dm           F              C
As a child with no family I was begging in the street
           F                C         Bb
When great fortune came and made me a herring girl

[Verse 2]
  Dm                                 C
I don't come from there islands from England I have grown
    Dm                          C
And born in Great Yarmouth that is my native home
   F               Dm                   F                  C
In autumn when the girls all chased the fish down from the north 
      F                   C            Bb
How I longed that I would one day be a herring girl

[Verse 3]
  Dm                                  C
A young girl down from Aberdeen took sick into her bed
  Dm                                  C
I asked if there was work and down to Rona I was led
       F             Dm               F                 C
Oh she smiled at the height of me and said that I would do
         F            C              Bb
And as a packer I was joined to be a herring girl

[Verse 4]
    Dm                             C
The season started up in Scotland, I'd just turned 16
    Dm                              C
And Rona she's the greatest gutter Stornoway has seen
   F         Dm                F            C
At 80 fish a minute, and with Mary not much less
   F                   C            Bb
We 3 were famed as the best crew of herring girls

[Instrumental]
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[Verse 5]
Dm                               C
Last Saturday was dancing day and the boys were in the town
        Dm                            C
We were packing up and clean off and heading for our room
        F               Dm            F             C
When a stranger crept behind us in an alley out the back
       F               C               Bb
Out to catch himself a couple of fresh herring girls

[Verse 6]
      Dm                           C
Oh so suddenly he's on us and he's knocked me to the ground
   Dm                                 C
And he's pinned our Rona by the neck so she couldn't make a sound
     F             Dm            F                  C
But from her apron pocket fell a knife so keen and sharp
                 F                C             Bb
I've taught that man the price of fishing for a herring girl

[Verse 7]
   Dm                                 C
Oh you who look down on me with that judgement in your eyes
          Dm                             C
While the jury picks its fate for me I'd have you save your sighs
        F              Dm           F            C
For I'd gladly do the same again to any man that tries 
   F                       C             Bb            
To test his luck and take advantage of a herring girl

[Outro]
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Dm Bb F C
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