What is Fiddler’s Green?

As with many people and professions, there exist idealistic descriptions of Heaven. Fiddler’s Green is a veritable paradise for sailors with lots of free-flowing booze and available women. It’s a place of endless dancing, merrymaking, and music played by fiddlers (Jeans, 2007, p. 327-328). Note that this version of Fiddler’s Green is not to be confused with the similar notion of paradise associated with the U.S. Cavalry.

Probably best summed up in John Conolly’s 1960s song, “Fiddler’s Green.” Note that the song is modern and not a traditional folk song as some believe.

Lyrics:
As I roved by the dockside one evening so rare,
To view the still waters and take in the salt air,
I heard an old fisherman singin' this song,
Oh, take me away boys, me time is not long.

Chorus
Dress me up in me oilskin and jumper,
No more on the docks I’ll be seen,
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m takin; a trip, mates,
And I’ll see you some day in Fiddler's Green.

Now Fiddler’s Green is a place I’ve heard tell
Where the fishermen go if they don’t go to hell
Where the weather is fair and the dolphins do play
And the cold coast of Greenland is far, far away.

[Chorus]

Now when you’re in dock and the long trip is through
There’s pubs and there’s clubs and there’s lassies there too
And the girls are all pretty and the beer is all free
And there’s bottles of rum growing on every tree.

[Chorus]

The sky's always clear and there’s never a gale
And the fish jump on board with a flip of their tail
You lie at your leisure, there’s no work to do
And the skipper’s below making tea for the crew.

[Chorus]

And when you're in dock and the long trip is through
There's pubs and there's clubs and there's lassies there too
Now the girls are all pretty and the beer is all free
And there's bottles of rum hangin' from every tree.

[Chorus]

Now I don’t want a harp nor a halo, not me
Just give me a breeze and a good rolling sea
I’ll play me old squeeze-box as we sail along
With the wind in the riggin to sing me this song

[Chorus]

References

Jeans, P.D. (2007). Seafaring Lore & Legend: A Miscellany of Maritime Myth, Superstition, Fable, and Fact. International Marine/McGraw-Hill.