"Greenland Whale Fisheries" is a traditional sea song. In most of the versions collected from oral sources, the song opens up giving a date for the events that it describes (usually between 1823 and 1853). However, the song is actually older than this and a form of it was published as a ballad before 1725. It has been given a

Roud number The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

of 347. The song tells of a

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

expedition that leaves for

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. The lookout spots a "

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

fish", and harpoon boats are launched. However, the whale strikes the boat with its tail, capsizing it, and several men are killed. The captain grieves over losing his men, but especially for having lost his prey. He then orders the ship to sail for home, calling Greenland a "dreadful place". Like most traditional songs, "Greenland Whale Fisheries" exists in different versions. Some change details (such as the date of the expedition), and others add or remove verses. Some modern versions, including the ones recorded by

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

and

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ' ...

The Chad Mitchell Trio The Chad Mitchell Trio, later known as The Mitchell Trio, were an American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed traditional folk songs and some of John Denver's early compositions. They were particularly notable for perf ...

, and later by

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...

, flip the captain's expression of grief to make him regret losing his catch even more than losing his crew. In the version popularized by

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs fro ...

and

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...

, a shanty recorded by

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

from a Bahamian fisherman is appended, which begins, "When the whale gets strike, and the line run down, and the whale makes a flounder with her tail..." Folk singer Paul Kaplan recorded a song with the same tune under the title "Call Me the Whale". Following a similar chronology, it tells the story from the whale's perspective.
Call Me the Whale Lyrics
' Covered by

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

on their 1969 album ''

At Home with The Dubliners ''At Home with the Dubliners'' is the first album that The Dubliners made with producers Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. Their contract with Major Minor had ended at this point and they signed with EMI-Columbia Records. Some rare pressings fea ...

'', and on the B-Side of their 1965 single, "Roisin Dubh". Covered by

Ryan's Fancy Ryan’s Fancy was an Music of Ireland, Irish folk music group active from 1971–1983. The band consisted of multi-instrumentalists Denis Ryan (singer), Denis Ryan, Fergus O'Byrne, and Dermot O'Reilly, all of whom were Ireland, Irish immigra ...

on their 1971 album ''

Dark Island Dark Island, a prominent feature of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, is located in the lower (eastern) Thousand Islands region, near Chippewa Bay. It is a part of the Town of Hammond, in St. Lawrence County, New York. A historic landmark on the is ...

''. In the ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

'' episode "

The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" is the fifth episode in the third season of the American animated television series '' Futurama'', and the 37th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 4, 2001 ...

", Bender, in an ironic state of soberness, sings a snippet of the song. The Greenland Whalefishers, a

Celtic punk Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. Celtic punk bands often play traditional Irish, Welsh or Scottish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions.P. Buckley, ''The Rough Guide to Rock'' (London: Rough Gu ...

band from Norway, is named after the song.

References

{{authority control Songs about boats Songs about fishers Songs about whales Sea shanties Songs about Greenland The Pogues songs The Weavers songs The Dubliners songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown