Squid Jiggin' Music

I've just come across a fabulous tune from Newfoundland that captures perfectly the chaos of jigging (fishing with special lures) for squid: Holy smoke! What a scuffle! All hands are excited. 'Tis a wonder to me that there's nobody drowned. There's confusion, a bustle, a wonderful hustle, They're all jiggin' squids on the squid-jiggin' ground.

I've just come across a fabulous tune from Newfoundland that captures perfectly the chaos of jigging (fishing with special lures) for squid:

Holy smoke! What a scuffle! All hands are excited.
'Tis a wonder to me that there's nobody drowned.
There's confusion, a bustle, a wonderful hustle,
They're all jiggin' squids on the squid-jiggin' ground.

It's called "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" and, just a few days ago, it was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, an event which brought it to my attention for the first time. (I think I'm a little behind the curve on this one, as the Wiggles covered it a year ago on "Let's Eat," but somehow I missed that.)

As usual, YouTube can be relied upon for fan-made music videos:


Note the diversity of squid species represented! The small ones being cranked up onto the boat are probably our old friend the Atlantic longfin squid (Loligo pealei), the big trophy shots at 1:21 are certainly Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) and the one with oval fins at 1:38 may be the southern calamari (Sepioteuthis australis).

Conspicuously absent from the song is any mention of the dreary hours one can spend jigging when there are just no squid to be found . . .

Old NID
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