Bob Lewis: On Autumn Harvest ah09: Bob Lewis: Drive Sorrows Away. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2009.

This rather beautiful song has been often collected in southern England and was recorded by Harry Cox in a recording made in London in 1934. This was included on the anthology Songs of Courtship & Marriage (The Voice of the People Series Vol. 1, Topic 1998) and on the World Music Network compilation The Rough Guide to English Roots Music. Bob has known the song for many years and it seems to have been particularly well liked in his area of Sussex and is in the repertoire of his friends and neighbours, the Copper Family of Rottingdean. On the face of it the song seems to tell the tale of a young girl meeting a fisherman who turns out to be a lord in disguise. However, the collector Lucy Broadwood suggested that the song contains an element of Christian symbolism in its origins: the girl being the sinful soul who meets Christ – the fisher of souls – who she recognises by his chains of gold. She begs forgiveness for first addressing him as a fisherman. This is granted and she becomes the bride of Christ. Whatever interpretation is put on the song, it is usually greatly treasured by singers. The song is also treasured by musicians and musicologists as being a fine example of a tune in 5/4 time (Roud 291; Laws O24).