folk songs - Caller Herrin'

caller just means fresh - I think originally it derives from an old word meaning cool

It means “fresh”.

Snap!

Oh, I do wish I hadn't seen this thread. I've got it on the brain now!

Here are the words for the full song:
www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_herring.htm
We once stayed in a cottage neat Eilean Donan castle for a holiday. One morning someone knocked on the door and said she had some fresh herring, just caught, so I bought some. I fried them quickly, but really you could almost have eaten them raw. The bones were so soft they melted.

I absolutely adore herrings; could eat them all day long. Dipped in seasoned flour and fried; grilled; soused; and of course kippers - just wheel ‘em on! ?

try dipping them in oatmeal before frying

'You shall have a fishie, when the boat comes in'!

“While you were sleeping on your pillows
Thought you ought to our poor fellows
Darkling as they faced the billows
All to fill our woven willows”

I so remember “Singing for today “(I think) when the wireless was turned on in our primary classroom and we sang along to songs like , “The Miles tae Dundee”,

Sae smooth his speech. Sae true his hert.
His breath's like caller air
His very fit has music in't when he comes up the stair.

This is from a song called There's Nae Luck Aboot the Hoose in which the singer welcomes sight of her husband's boat coming back to port for the first time in weeks. The singer says there is no luck or happiness in her home when her husband is away.
Yes, caller is fresh (and fit is foot).