Row, row to fishing-reef
All little children sleep
No one knows where Daddy lies
Below the billows deep

Three hardy sons once set sail
In a boat they went to sea
Their Daddy went along with them
All Mummy did was weep

They traveled out to fishing-sea
And Daddy fell into the blue
Daddy was dead, and gone from sight,
So far from the mainland, too

Row, row to fishing reef
Old Daddy's fast asleep
Among the many fish they took
From the salty deep

The catch was absolutely great:
Many thousand kroner
Money's what a wife and kid
Wait quietly at home for!

Everyone said "Of course, of course
Time and fish is money
Daddy we must put on ice
To stop him from smelling funny!"

Row, row to fishing-reef
Boys will still be boys
They'll sell the fish for plenty
And buy themselves big toys

The first day out was pretty cold
And then it stayed that way
But Dad was thoroughly salted down
And gutted, sad to say

The fishing it went on and on,
Nobody'd time to quarrel
It paid to put ol' Daddy down
Inside a herring barrel

Row, row to fishing-reef
Washed, well-shaven, billeted,
Ol' daddy's resting quietly
Neatly cleaned and filleted!

The flag was hoisted up on high
And Daddy's clever sons
Had salted fish for cargo now
In barrels by the tons

The youngest of these clever boys
Said, "First let's empty out the boat
Then we'll take the barrel out
Where Daddy's resting quartered

The barrel that I'm talkin' 'bout,
The one where Dad's asleep,
Has a label with a herring on
With an anchor underneath"-