Billingsgate Marked the most libelled spot in years,

One hundred years ago, many used to put wax in their ears,

The language was awful, the searing obscene,

So they put in some measures to make the place clean.

The fish porters are the backbone of Billingsgate we hear,

Working the most primitive system of hard transport each year,

Genoese galleys were anchored quite near a long time past,

That was the middle ages, and the job’s methods to this day last.

These porters wear leather helmets and carry fish on their head,

When a mans neck, ’sets, he can carry sixteen stone, it is said,

‘Mind your back please,’ is the fish porters cry,

And mind you move, as floored you will be when the porter walks by.