"Yarmouth Town" is a traditional English song. It is a shanty about the town of Great Yarmouth on the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

coast. It recounts a story of a young woman, the daughter of a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

, who takes many lovers amongst the sailors passing through the port. It has been performed by a number of musicians including

The Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popu ...

Planxty Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars ...

Gaelic Storm Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996. Their musical output includes pieces from traditional Irish music, Scottish music, and original tunes in both the Celtic and Celtic rock genres. The band had its first ...

, Great Big Sea, and Bellowhead.

Cover versions

published "Yarmouth Town" as a

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

to " Cliffs of Dooneen" (1972) * Great Big Sea on their album ''

Sea of No Cares ''Sea of No Cares'' is the fifth studio album by Great Big Sea, released on February 19, 2002 in Canada and on February 26 in the United States. The album is platinum certified (100,000 copies sold is Platinum status in Canada), and won five ECM ...

'' (2002) * Bellowhead on their album '' Hedonism'' (2010) og '' Hedonism Live'' (2011) *

Jon Boden Jon Boden (born 17 March 1977) is a singer, composer and musician, best known as lead singer and main arranger of Bellowhead. His first instrument is the fiddle and he is a proponent of "English traditional fiddle style" and also of "fiddle ...

from Bellowhead recorded the song in August 2010 as a part of the project A Folk Song A Day where he recorded and released a folk song each day for one year. *

Nic Jones Nic Jones (born Nicolas Paul Jones; 9 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Regarded as a prominent figure of the British folk revival, he has recorded five solo albums and collaborated with various musicians. Biography ...

on his live album '' Unearthed'' (2011) *

on their album '' The Boathouse'' (2013) *The Merchant Men on their album A'right My Lubbers! (2020)

References

English songs Year of song unknown Sea shanties Songwriter unknown {{song-stub