Fisherman's Blues

"Fisherman's Blues" is a song from folk rock band The Waterboys, which was released in 1988 as the lead single from their fourth studio album of the same name. It was written by Mike Scott and Steve Wickham, and produced by Scott. The song reached number 3 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, number 13 in Ireland and number 32 in the UK. The single was reissued in the UK on 27 May 1991 to promote the compilation album The Best of The Waterboys 81–90. The reissue reached number 17 in Ireland and number 75 in the UK. Background Scott began writing the song on a plane flight from New York to London, at the end of the Waterboys' North American tour in November 1985. During his time in New York, Scott had a meeting with the band's manager, Gary Kurfirst, however their relationship had become strained by this time. In his autobiography, Scott revealed: "I knew that the relationship [with Kurfirst] was in terminal decline. I wanted out. Squeezed into seat 31F, I wrote down my feelings in verse on the back of my boarding pass, the beginnings of a new song called "Fisherman's Blues"." Some of the lyrics were also inspired by the W. H. Auden poem "The Night Mail". The song was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland, on 23 January 1986 as part of the first session for the album of the same name. Speaking of the song's recording to Songfacts in 2013, Scott recalled: "I wrote the third verse in the studio. The music got written that day in the studio as well. I had the chords, but the tone of the song came from Steve Wickham's fiddle accompaniment."