The Herring’s Head or Herrin’s Heid is a cumulative traditional song often thought of as Scottish in origin, although this may be more to do with predominating versions in the early days of the folk revival. Somerset can apparently claim the most versions.

In Scotland and the North East of England, they lose the g, change or lose assorted other vowels and consonants and it’s heid. In the South of England you keep more letters and it’s head. On my 50th birthday, the singer George Unthank sang it at a fondly remembered surrströmming event in our garage. He sang it again at a Christmas party not long after my 70th. It can be sung simply as a great nonsense song with the verses in no particular order (although it always starts with the head), but there is a more profound set of meanings available in the order George and many others sing it. He may, of course, add other verses at other times and even sing them in a completely different order.

Herrin’s Heid
from the singing of George Unthank

What’ll we de with the herrin’s heid? 
What’ll we de with the herrin’s heid?
We’ll mak it into loaves o’ breid! 
Herring’s head, loaves o’ breid
And all manner o’ things! 

Of all the fish that swim in the sea
The herrin’ is the one for me!
How are ye the day? How are ye the day?
How are ye the day, my hinny-o?

What’ll we de with the herrin’s fins?
What’ll we de with the herrin’s fins?
We’ll mak ’em into needles and pins.
Herrin’s fins, needles and pins,
Herrin’s heid, loaves o’ breid
And all manner o’ things!

Herrin’s eyes / puddens and pies

Herrin’s belly / a lass called Nelly

Herrin’s back / a lad called Jack

Herrin’s tail / a boat that sails

A celebration of community

The ending of the chorus in this version, How are ye the day? How are ye the day? / How are ye the day me hinny-o? (which I haven’t heard outside the North East of England) sometimes sees the leading singer shake hands with any near-at-hand members of the audience. Sometimes, members of the audience are simply encouraged to shake hands (as they sing) with whoever is next to them.

This participative emphasis on the role the herring plays in the cohesion, health and well-being of the community is in turn backed up by the order of verses delivering the community’s needs: the basics (bread; clothing); a little bit of the good life (puddings and pies); the children who will provide continuity (Nelly; Jack); long term economic sustenance (a new boat).

Additional verses, alternative rhymes and choruses

Unless you are a marine biologist, you begin to run out of herring parts, particularly ones of only one or two syllables, but two other verses are common:

Herring’s gills / physical pills

Herring’s guts / a pair o’ byuts 

Boots tend to rhyme best with guts in the North, but both verses are easily insertable into the logical sequence of community celebration. They can also be used to disrupt it, as can a range of alternative rhymes.

The herring’s tail can rhyme with a barrel o’ ale or Newcastle broon ale or a ship o’ steel or sharks and whales. Its belly can rhyme with jams an’ jelly or jars o’ jelly or (in an obviously post-1967 version) a colour telly. Its back can rhyme with a fishing smack, while the boat that sails can be a boat with sails, a ship that sails or a ship with sails. This is not an exclusive list of alternative rhymes and singers are free to invent their own.

The herring’s head can also be the red herring’s head and it can rhyme with a feather bed. All manner o’ things can be all such things or all sorts o’ things. Eschewing the hand-shaking option, the choruses can be:

The herring is the king of the sea,
The herring is the fish for me!
The herring is the king of the sea,
Sing wack-faloodle-day!

or:

The herring is the king of the sea,
The herring is the one for me!
Sing fa-la-la-la-lie-do!
Fa-la-la-lie-do!
Fa-la-la-la-lie-do-lie-day!

or:

The herring is the king of the sea,
The herring is the fish for me!
The herring is the king of the sea,
Sing fol the do or die!

or:

Of all the fish that swim in the sea,
Red herring it is the fish for me,
And all such things!

The chorus versions where the herring is celebrated as the king of the sea certainly go back: the herring is King of Fishes and has been for many centuries. Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599) sees a trickster scam in which the accidental inventor of red herring introduces it to the pope as The King of Fishes (the pope canonises it as St Gildarde, but that’s another story – see Red Herring Joke, The). A version with red herring was collected by Jim Eldon and Steve Gardham in 1972 at Aldborough, just down the coast from Great Yarmouth (once the capital of red herring production) and Lowestoft (home town of Thomas Nashe and home to Waveney Valley Smokehouse, which seems to be the last UK red herring producer). Drawn from a range of versions involving Alan Grey, Lesley Smith and John Hodson, it comes with a narrative introduction:

A fisherman was taking his son for the first time out fishing and as they were pulling away the son said, ‘What are we catching today, Dad?’

Dad says, ‘We’re catching red herrings today, lad.’

‘Why are we catching red herrings, Dad?’

‘Because of all the fish that swim in the sea red herring it is the fish for me.’

An alternative herring song

A variant, seemingly from both sides of the Irish Sea, brings it all down to one herring, but maintains the focus on the infrastructure of hearth, home and community. The singer Eliza Carthy suggests the Welsh of the chorus means something like over the hills and over the bridge.

Herring Song
There once was a man who came from Kinsale,
Sing aber o vane, sing aber o linn
And he had a herring, a herring for sale!
Sing aber o vane, sing aber o linn

Sing man of Kinsale, sing herring for sale,
Sing aber o vane, sing aber o linn;
And indeed I have more of my herring to sing,
Sing aber o vane, sing aber o linn.

So what do you think they made of his head?
The finest oven that ever baked bread!

Sing herring, sing head, sing oven, sing bread…

So what do you think they made of his back?
A nice little man and his name it was Jack!

Sing herring, sing back, sing man, sing Jack…

So what do you think they made of his eyes?
The finest dishes that ever held pies!

Sing herring, sing eyes, sing dishes, sing pies…

So what do you think they made of his scales?
The finest ships that ever set sail!

Sing herring, sing scales, sing ships, sing sails…

So what do you think they made of his fins?
The finest cases for needles and pins!

Sing herring, sing fins, sing needles and pins…