my family are working class newcastle through and through my earliest memories are my mam singing this to me. I sing this to my sons at bed time and will pass on the family spirit of the North East to them. No matter how much the world changes we need to remember our heritage 💪
I am from the south east from working class origins and this is the sweetest, most endearing song I've ever heard. I would hear this from my dad (mum died, he just knew songs) this has always stuck with me. Keep on your traditions up there, it is warming to the heart. God speed, sending love xxxx
Just been playing this to my dad (living with dementia) to remind him he is a geordie through and through, its so beautiful and just at this moment I cant stop cring ❤
My dad used to sing it to me when I was little, one of my earliest memories being sat in his knee by the Aga in the kitchen. I introduced my hubby to it, we sang it to our kids and now we sing it to my grandson. He loves it...
Thank you. This folk song was sung to me, a small boy, by my grandmother in the early sixties in the kitchen at her house in Jarrow by a coke range. Timeless.
Me an all . My mam used to make me play it on recorder soon as I could play London's burning then when I was 6 I had the play bits and sing bits. I was really really shy and unconfident, she nevva cared an telt iz get ye oot o the larda and sing te wor neebors new ye lazy kid or ye are gannin te the naughty kids yem nea billy mill roond aboot. New sing ye little shite! An divvent turn ye back one mates coz it's rude I have autism and was diagnosed in 1978 and still struggle to play facing folk. If I'd been able to overcome that I'd be rich. @@carolginsberg8392
The first photograph shows the River Wear in Sunderland looking towards the Wearmouth Bridge and the distictive railway bridge behind it. The view is from the Corporation Quay where the offshore cobbles land their fish. Not only did me Mam sing this song to me as a bairn i have bought fish with her and me dad on that very quay when th boats came in.
This was the theme song to a tv show my folks used to watch all the time. It evokes childhood memories for me, and a feeling of nostalgia. It is such a beautiful song, and this is a lush performance of it, I'm glad I found it!
I ddnt get the meaning untill I found out whatt "when the boat gets in" means Then I realised it's a grandads song to his grandson, trying to assusre him that everything is alright it gives me the chills!
@@RedFieryFastflamer It's a grandad who sees his grandson is succumbing to the crushing poverty they are in. The grandad has seen the symptoms before - his own son Tommy who turned to drink (The grandson's mum is the bedrock of her family and is a pleasant woman - hence canny.) So the grandad is saying to the boy don't let this get down you instead dance and sing because the grandad (a keelman, a person who took the fish off the boats and to market) is going to look after them all - hence the fish and everyone getting one. But the song is also a metaphor: that times may be hard but better times will come and one day the young boy's "boat will come in" and he'll get the prize - a salmon. It isn't a real salmon or boat in this sense but about optimism for the future and some good thing will come to the boy if he stays positive. The verses "I like a drop myself..." Well, if you have to say something to someone they might not want to hear - that Tommy the boy's father is a drunk - oft people will say something to soften the message and not be too critical. Hence "I like a drop myself when I again get it sly..." In others words, don't think too badly of your dad Tommy. There's a LOT more going on in the song than first glance!
Keelmen ferried coal from the staithes( where the coal came down railway lines to the Tyne) down river to the big ships ( the Tyne eventually was dredged so big ships could come in to port upriver). The Keelmen had a special uniform ( especially a blue bonnet ie hat with a red pom-poms) and contributed a small amount of money regularly for looking after ‘their own’ so there was a Keelmens’ hospital- currently up for sale. Thus verse in “ As I came to Sandgate..” ‘verse “he wears a blue bonnet….”
Have any of you heard Alex Glasgow's concept piece 'The Tyne Slides By'? It takes up the whole of Side Two of 'Songs Of Alex Glasgow'. I got it on vinyl last weekend at a record fair. Strange that I'm a Geordie and I've reached the age of 56 but not heard it before. Anyway it tracks the life of a working class man on Tyneside and towards the end there's a section where he's a Grandad looking after his grandchild. That whole arc of a working man's Tyneside life is a poignant theme for the songwriter!
I remember the original version of this song from the series " When the boat comes in ", from i was a child , and i have liked it since , and still do .
This song and its superb graphics... it’s a window into the lives of the workers and the hard times they suffered. A history that’s well and truly overlooked and bypassed by the media industry, “A rather unpleasant distasteful period in history”, as opposed to all that dramatised stuff we get rammed with, like “Upstairs Downstairs”, and the comings and goings of Lord Arsey Darcy, ha. So tonight in memory.. I’ll be opening a bottle of nostalgia, a bottle of Newcastle B Ale.
I am from/living in the port city of Liverpool, my granddad came from Newcastle and met my Nan from North Wales in Liverpool. So our Sir Name of Cummings Originally comes from Scotland yet in the time - line we settled in the North East and my Granddad came over to Liverpool. Each time I hear this song, I remember my granddad, my Dad and my roots from the North East ... Funny thing is my eldest sister moved up to Newcastle in the mid 1980s as her husband found work there, she and her kids have a North East accent ... what goes around, comes around !.
I love these kind of folksongs as they recall our past in the way I remember from my nana's memoirs. The woman is canny, the father is so drunk, he cannot stand and the fishy keeps changing. It is a haddock, then a mackerel, then a bloater, then a salmon.
I'm a smoggy who has moved away, live in Northern Ireland, ALWAYS, mistaken for a geordy. So, you believe what you want, love, but it doesn't make the geordy, smoggy and any other NE accent any less similar.
Eindrucksvoll und bedeutungsvoll "The boat comes in" (kann sich heute vielleicht keiner mehr vorstellen). Ein so schönes Volkslied, mit Herz und Seele gesungen. Ich mag das sehr und danke fürs Posten. Gut, alte Zeiten nicht zu vergessen, an die Menschen und ihre schwere Arbeit zu erinnern. Ich liebe den Song und das Video. Mein Interesse wurde geweckt durch "Sad Story Of Old Sid from Gateshead: Lass on the Bankies" by MusicalPearls or SteveNielson or musicalJuice1970 (Geordie Barden). Liebe diese Songs und Performances: singende Dichter aus einem Kulturkreis unserer Vorfahren, mit Lebensinhalt aller Arten, Formen, Herz und Seele. Thanks a lot, blessings, health and peace. 🍀🌟🍀💖🍀🌟🍀💖🍀🌟🍀
One of the local radio stations always used to play this lol, I get it in my head from time to time, same as the roly poly fish head song lol. This version is way better than the one they used to play on the radio. Thanks for the upload!
Signature tune of 70s series, starring James Bolam. Gritty story of Newcastle coal miners. I have a very early memory of crossing the High Level Bridge during WW2 when the sky was full of barrage balloons. Geordies are great people - one side of my family were Geordie, and I am proud to have a bit of Geordie lineage.
I was born in swillington, my granddad and my dad did not get along. WW1 vet a hard man. My father told him we leaving for Australia. He asked one night with me and my brother. We stayed there the last night. My grandfather sang this song to us before bed. I was 8 brother 6.
My family story sad. My mother lost 5 in 1967 in Stockport air crash. Why 5 the lady was pregnant. My grandfather was a hard man. He was one of the first to have a steel plate inserted in skull from ww1. We came back for a holiday when I was 12. But I did not see them. He died in 80,s. My father flew back for funeral. I have never been back. I have a good life in Australia. And thinking travel Australia and doing family tree. I have on my list to see UK. My partner as Irish back ground. My father last words to him was I am taking the family to Australia and I never want to see you again. We sat in the car outside. Travelled buy train to the ship and left. Russell
Reet lads and lasses. Ah can see this hits yem. A lot of comments here which twinge my heart. I miss the North East. It will be forever with me in tale and rhyme.
I like how the promises of fish get better as the song goes on with the quality of the fish improving with every verse. I`m guessing coz Dad liked a drink nobody really got much fish
I never released that the song/lyrics were as old as this. Beethoven died a year later, 1827. Had he lived longer he may well have set this song to his own arrangement as he did with other English, Scottish & Welsh songs...
Knew it as less refined version in folk clubs of NE England - dance to thee daddy my bonnie laddie dance to thee daddy for thee supper tan, thou shalt have a fishie on a little dishie thou shalt have a fishy when the boat comes in.
My daddy use to sing this song to me when I was a kid, he passed away a few days ago. RIP dad, going to miss you.
God bless him
So sorry for your loss! May he rest in peace! Hope you are coping okay!
Sorry for your loss
sorry m8
m8*
my family are working class newcastle through and through my earliest memories are my mam singing this to me.
I sing this to my sons at bed time and will pass on the family spirit of the North East to them.
No matter how much the world changes we need to remember our heritage 💪
Well said. 👍
I am from the south east from working class origins and this is the sweetest, most endearing song I've ever heard. I would hear this from my dad (mum died, he just knew songs) this has always stuck with me. Keep on your traditions up there, it is warming to the heart. God speed, sending love xxxx
@@PeIeus thank you for sharing. Your parents sound lovely and glad you have good memories of your dad. All the best for 2025!
Just been playing this to my dad (living with dementia) to remind him he is a geordie through and through, its so beautiful and just at this moment I cant stop cring ❤
Bless your Dad. I know what you're going thru. 🙏
I can remember my mam and dad singing this when I was on their knee.
Never realised this is Geordie Beautiful and bless the hero women waiting on shore
The geordies are class am glad to call this place home
My dad used to sing it to me when I was little, one of my earliest memories being sat in his knee by the Aga in the kitchen. I introduced my hubby to it, we sang it to our kids and now we sing it to my grandson. He loves it...
Thank you. This folk song was sung to me, a small boy, by my grandmother in the early sixties in the kitchen at her house in Jarrow by a coke range. Timeless.
Am home sick
Me an all . My mam used to make me play it on recorder soon as I could play London's burning then when I was 6 I had the play bits and sing bits. I was really really shy and unconfident, she nevva cared an telt iz get ye oot o the larda and sing te wor neebors new ye lazy kid or ye are gannin te the naughty kids yem nea billy mill roond aboot. New sing ye little shite! An divvent turn ye back one mates coz it's rude
I have autism and was diagnosed in 1978 and still struggle to play facing folk. If I'd been able to overcome that I'd be rich. @@carolginsberg8392
Proper Geordie here. Best people in the world. Bar none.
Whey aye, course we are man. 👍
The first photograph shows the River Wear in Sunderland looking towards the Wearmouth Bridge and the distictive railway bridge behind it. The view is from the Corporation Quay where the offshore cobbles land their fish. Not only did me Mam sing this song to me as a bairn i have bought fish with her and me dad on that very quay when th boats came in.
Thank you very, I very liked that picture and wondered where it could be....
I was looking at the picture thinking that’s Sunlun!
This was the theme song to a tv show my folks used to watch all the time. It evokes childhood memories for me, and a feeling of nostalgia. It is such a beautiful song, and this is a lush performance of it, I'm glad I found it!
Yes one of the best drama series ever! James Bolam as Jack Ford
I love this 🎶
It does remind me of the brilliant TV series from many years ago When The Boat Comes In.
A great series!
I'm a southerner but I often sing this song in my best Geordie accent, it's very evocative song from simpler better times.
Grandson on the way. Planning to sing this to him to calm him and help him sleep. Thanks for sharing
I ddnt get the meaning untill I found out whatt "when the boat gets in" means
Then I realised it's a grandads song to his grandson, trying to assusre him that everything is alright it gives me the chills!
wait what does it mean
@@RedFieryFastflamer It's a grandad who sees his grandson is succumbing to the crushing poverty they are in. The grandad has seen the symptoms before - his own son Tommy who turned to drink (The grandson's mum is the bedrock of her family and is a pleasant woman - hence canny.) So the grandad is saying to the boy don't let this get down you instead dance and sing because the grandad (a keelman, a person who took the fish off the boats and to market) is going to look after them all - hence the fish and everyone getting one. But the song is also a metaphor: that times may be hard but better times will come and one day the young boy's "boat will come in" and he'll get the prize - a salmon. It isn't a real salmon or boat in this sense but about optimism for the future and some good thing will come to the boy if he stays positive. The verses "I like a drop myself..." Well, if you have to say something to someone they might not want to hear - that Tommy the boy's father is a drunk - oft people will say something to soften the message and not be too critical. Hence "I like a drop myself when I again get it sly..." In others words, don't think too badly of your dad Tommy. There's a LOT more going on in the song than first glance!
Keelmen ferried coal from the staithes( where the coal came down railway lines to the Tyne) down river to the big ships ( the Tyne eventually was dredged so big ships could come in to port upriver). The Keelmen had a special uniform ( especially a blue bonnet ie hat with a red pom-poms) and contributed a small amount of money regularly for looking after ‘their own’ so there was a Keelmens’ hospital- currently up for sale. Thus verse in “ As I came to Sandgate..” ‘verse “he wears a blue bonnet….”
Have any of you heard Alex Glasgow's concept piece 'The Tyne Slides By'?
It takes up the whole of Side Two of 'Songs Of Alex Glasgow'. I got it on vinyl last weekend at a record fair. Strange that I'm a Geordie and I've reached the age of 56 but not heard it before. Anyway it tracks the life of a working class man on Tyneside and towards the end there's a section where he's a Grandad looking after his grandchild. That whole arc of a working man's Tyneside life is a poignant theme for the songwriter!
@@DFMSelfprotection fabulous explanation, thank you
God this is a great song, I remember it from watching the TV series as a kid but it is timeless.
I remember the original version of this song from the series " When the boat comes in ", from i was a child , and i have liked it since , and still do .
I moved down south 15 years ago, lost partial accent but the North East is where my heart is, people (for the most part) are the friendliest
I love this song celebrating simpler times, but not necessarily easier times, for the days were long and the work was hard.
despite the fact that i'm russian i like this song. parential love will stay with us forever
There's some great folk music from all over the world... Like you say it's from the ❤️
@@vinchenzo678 Music is a universal-polyversal language that has the ability to harmonise humanity. If only we could transcend. . .
This song and its superb graphics... it’s a window into the lives of the workers and the hard times they suffered. A history that’s well and truly overlooked and bypassed by the media industry, “A rather unpleasant distasteful period in history”, as opposed to all that dramatised stuff we get rammed with, like “Upstairs Downstairs”, and the comings and goings of Lord Arsey Darcy, ha. So tonight in memory.. I’ll be opening a bottle of nostalgia, a bottle of Newcastle B Ale.
You just wanted the ale though right? 😊
@@michawill6599 i don't blame him. Its a nice beer
a nice painting of the North Shields low lights by Charles Napier
I am from/living in the port city of Liverpool, my granddad came from Newcastle and met my Nan from North Wales in Liverpool. So our Sir Name of Cummings Originally comes from Scotland yet in the time - line we settled in the North East and my Granddad came over to Liverpool. Each time I hear this song, I remember my granddad, my Dad and my roots from the North East ... Funny thing is my eldest sister moved up to Newcastle in the mid 1980s as her husband found work there, she and her kids have a North East accent ... what goes around, comes around !.
My dad used to sing this to me as a bairn, aw the memories man :3
I love these kind of folksongs as they recall our past in the way I remember from my nana's memoirs. The woman is canny, the father is so drunk, he cannot stand and the fishy keeps changing. It is a haddock, then a mackerel, then a bloater, then a salmon.
The first 3 from the deep sea fishing, but the salmon reserved for the wealthy by then?
❤ this is so beautiful to me.
I grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and it rings true as a bell there as well.
Loving this.
Beautiful rendition of this song.
Lovely Song & Sang Very Well 💗 !+)
Away blinking memories of ACTUALLY HAPPENING REALLY BLINKING WORK AND ROYAL SENSE beautiful performance CRACKING!!!!!!!!
We take our river for granted at times.
I love singing this, I'm from Middlesbrough and it's great not having to hide my accent when I sing!
Accent lol
Your a smoggie not a Geordie.
Different twang altogether pet.
Very similar, actually, especially in a singing voice..... pet
@@spook363 nowhere near hinny
I am a born and bred Geordie and I can tell a smoggie after they've utter or sang half a dozen words.
I'm a smoggy who has moved away, live in Northern Ireland, ALWAYS, mistaken for a geordy. So, you believe what you want, love, but it doesn't make the geordy, smoggy and any other NE accent any less similar.
@@billgowland3250 divvint really matter lad. Despite what the title says, the songs from Durham.
I remember this song from the show as a nipper always loved it and to this day sing it in my best Geordie accent eve though I’m a yorkie
Beautiful.
my nana sang this to me oh such memories have taught my grand kids ...was wonderful
I sang this to my 4 year old son to get him to sleep the other day, worked a treat.
And I can't sing for sh!t
Eindrucksvoll und bedeutungsvoll "The boat comes in" (kann sich heute vielleicht keiner mehr vorstellen). Ein so schönes Volkslied, mit Herz und Seele gesungen. Ich mag das sehr und danke fürs Posten. Gut, alte Zeiten nicht zu vergessen, an die Menschen und ihre schwere Arbeit zu erinnern. Ich liebe den Song und das Video. Mein Interesse wurde geweckt durch "Sad Story Of Old Sid from Gateshead: Lass on the Bankies" by MusicalPearls or SteveNielson or musicalJuice1970 (Geordie Barden). Liebe diese Songs und Performances: singende Dichter aus einem Kulturkreis unserer Vorfahren, mit Lebensinhalt aller Arten, Formen, Herz und Seele. Thanks a lot, blessings, health and peace.
🍀🌟🍀💖🍀🌟🍀💖🍀🌟🍀
Absolutely delightful, the best version ever for me.
A really nice version of this old song. Great musicianship. Love and peace.
bob fox!
I used to sit and watch this with me da back in the day, great geordie folk song, cheers from glesga 🖖🏼
Great grandmother was from Stockton on tees married an Irish gentleman proud of my heritage Irish Scottish and north east
Takes md back to my childhood growing up on tyneside
Always remind me of my mam - rest eternal mam x
Northumbrian here ....my dad used to sing this to me every night .....to all my northern brothers ....i hope ya all well
I'm Irish and am very familiar with this tune. We have a band called Hopslips who recorded a version of this in the early 70's. Really nice 😊😊
I grew up singing this song (as a southerner), never knew it was a Geordie song!
I remember this lovely song when I was a wean. It was a t.v. programme theme tune and we all sung it. Haha.
When the boat comes in!!😀😀
One of the local radio stations always used to play this lol, I get it in my head from time to time, same as the roly poly fish head song lol. This version is way better than the one they used to play on the radio. Thanks for the upload!
love this song ^^
I was in Primary school when this was on a commercial, everyone used to love singing it
My little one enjoyed swaying to this whilst eating a fish supper.
Love it , fills my heart with joy :))
:-) also mine❤
Ilearneda varient of this song 50 plus years ago & I've been singing it ever since
Nicely sung. Its also
very powerful when sung in pitmatic or geordie .
A truly majestic performance and version.
Signature tune of 70s series, starring James Bolam. Gritty story of Newcastle coal miners. I have a very early memory of crossing the High Level Bridge during WW2 when the sky was full of barrage balloons. Geordies are great people - one side of my family were Geordie, and I am proud to have a bit of Geordie lineage.
Great memories.... Thanks fir sharing, tell us more. Where did you end up going to live
I was born in swillington, my granddad and my dad did not get along. WW1 vet a hard man. My father told him we leaving for Australia. He asked one night with me and my brother. We stayed there the last night. My grandfather sang this song to us before bed. I was 8 brother 6.
😢 Did you see/ speak to him after that?
My family story sad. My mother lost 5 in 1967 in Stockport air crash. Why 5 the lady was pregnant. My grandfather was a hard man. He was one of the first to have a steel plate inserted in skull from ww1. We came back for a holiday when I was 12. But I did not see them. He died in 80,s. My father flew back for funeral. I have never been back. I have a good life in Australia. And thinking travel Australia and doing family tree. I have on my list to see UK. My partner as Irish back ground. My father last words to him was I am taking the family to Australia and I never want to see you again. We sat in the car outside. Travelled buy train to the ship and left. Russell
Reet lads and lasses. Ah can see this hits yem.
A lot of comments here which twinge my heart. I miss the North East. It will be forever with me in tale and rhyme.
I grew up living down the road from Alex Glasgow who sang the version on the TV Programme "When the boat comes in" . Love this version by Bob Fox.
Alex! who is a cousin of mine, wrote the lyrics for the television series. And of course, sang it as well.
My mother Inlaw love it 🥰
I like how the promises of fish get better as the song goes on with the quality of the fish improving with every verse. I`m guessing coz Dad liked a drink nobody really got much fish
I love this file folk song. It was the theme song to a kids program in the 70s
I’m a Tyneside local, I remember gran singing this to me once 🪦
Superb...
2024 Anyone?
Yes, great song and video, like it very much, Chris
Just sang it to my 20 month old son then found this, brilliant! Geordie born and bred ❤
My dad used to sing this to me to put me to sleep
The best xxx!. Thanks i🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤.
I’m from Lincoln but I still know and love this
Its from galashiels
Originally
Bill Gowland thx didn’t know that
@@billgowland3250 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Boat_Comes_In_(song)
@@blackfox2910 and your point is ?
@@harrydarwin1874
Mosley. Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes
Ahh the harmonies of Bob Fox... the oldies are the best ones
The picture is of Sunderland!
Never mind, it's still a good song.
Yeah and? I'm from Sunderland and was brought up with this tune. It's a North East folksong in general, it doesn't just belong to Newcastle.
Well it does say...Geordie folk song.
@@craigmccombie2409 us Sunderland fans used to sing about being Geordie boot boys up until the 80s.
Mum used to sing this to us, we are from liverpool
Brilliantly sung so meaning full 😇
Thank you
Who Geordie here cuz I am. its a classic song,I'm
9
Great.My mother from South Shields would sing this
aye lad
still brings me to tears when i was a nipper x
I sing this to my cats🤣🤣🤣👍
Daniel Smith loves this song
moving version!
Was cuddled asleep to this song off me ma when a was a bairn meself! Sing to my Tommy now
I cannot find the version I was taught at school. Dance to your Daddy my bonny laddie, sing to your Mummy my little lamb!
I thought I recognized that voice! Bob at his best.
Backey was a word back then?
Thanks mate!
I never released that the song/lyrics were as old as this. Beethoven died a year later, 1827. Had he lived longer he may well have set this song to his own arrangement as he did with other English, Scottish & Welsh songs...
Not geordie but Scot’s and Irish and appreciate this beautiful rendition of a truly beautiful song
It's 100% a Geordie song and lyrics not Scot's Irish.
@@BykerTheBoy what? There saying that there not a Geordie but Scots n'
Irish
Please name the singer, would like to hear more of his.
Where can I find the opening photo of the Tyne. I have not been home for 70 years..
Make sure you do. It's a wonderful city. Don't forget it, go visit.
The first photo is of the river Wear.
I have lost my mam I love you for ever man co.shack to live
My dad did also
They don’t make em like this anymore… 🙏🏼👌🏼
I know I love folk songs but it's all pop or whatever they call it now
When we was a great proud nation proud to be British and white
Good Geordie people
I love the painting that's in the background halfway through. Who's the artist?
I'm here cause of Andy from the Drain Unblockers
I'm half southern half northern and I always sing this ❤
John West Brought Me Here ✓ !+)
Knew it as less refined version in folk clubs of NE England - dance to thee daddy my bonnie laddie dance to thee daddy for thee supper tan, thou shalt have a fishie on a little dishie thou shalt have a fishy when the boat comes in.
❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊😊
who is the artist?
The Monday 28 Guardian political cartoon, Henny Beaumont on a gift from Dorries to Starmer, brought me here.