A 1906 popular song.
Words and music by Lawrence Hanray.
Sheet music provided by Ross Boyle:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
One day I went a-fishing and I caught a little fish
So small you couldn’t see it as it lay upon the dish
My wife she was so proud of me she told a lady friend
Now that was the beginning, you just listen to the end
Of course I was a hero in my wife’s adoring eyes
So she told her friend I’d caught a fish of quite a decent size
That friend she told her husband Mr. Jones had caught a fish
So big it wasn’t possible to get it on a dish
The husband told another man who went and told his wife
That Jones had caught the biggest fish he’d heard of in his life
It weighed just over forty pound and ere the day was done
That fish had gone on growing till it weighed about a ton
Another man who heard it told a certain Mr. Brown
Who added to the yarn and sent it further round the town
And next day Mrs. Smith was heard delivering a tale
Of how I’d gone a-fishing and had caught a kind of whale
The next report was furnished by a certain Mrs. Clark
Who said that Mr. Jones had had a struggle with a shark
She thought he got the best of it, but wasn’t very sure
She knew that he was injured, though not quite beyond all cure
The lady Mrs. Clark had told went home that ver night
And told her husband Mr. Jones had had an awful fight
With some enormous monster with a kind of dragon’s head
The fish was doing very well but Mr. Jones was dead
The husband wrote a letter, sent it to the Daily Mail
And told with graphic details this extraordinarytale
And much to my astonishment ere many days were past
I read that the sea-serpent had been found by me at last
They said I’d yielded up my life in science’ noble cause
That by my pluck and courage I had gained a world’s applause
It further was suggested and approved that there should be
A pension for my widow and a monument for me
The money simply rolled in, so unto my wife I said
“My dear, I really think it pays me better to be dead
If a living out of dying to obtain we can contrive
It isn’t worth the trouble to convince ’em I’m alive”
I went abroad and hid myself behind a borrowed name
While wifie raked the money in as token of my fame
They stuck a little lighthouse up to point out where I died
And people come to look at it from countries far and wide
One day it was reported that my widow’d gone abroad
And was married to the cousin of her former worthy lord
Now who that cousin really was I hardly need explain
My widow thus became my wife and here we are again
Which only goes to show you that the little fish are sweet
They’re big enough to talk about though maybe not to eat
So all you ardent anglers, the best that I can wish
Is may your luck be good as mine in catching little fish
Sung here by Vancha March: