I looked today for online lyrics of the cuckoo song which I quoted a verse from on June 19, 1999 - verse 3 in the lyrics below. If you think 1999 is long ago, I learned this song in the 1960s. I'm surprised this version isnt already on Mudcat, as far as I can find at the moment - it was via Mudcat search for various lines of the song that I found this old thread.

What I found on other sites is attributed to Ronnie Gilbert (recorded with the Weavers). Is she in any sense the author of this version, which you can see is related to some other cuckoo songs on this thread, and is especially close to a

A walkin and a talkin

The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies
She brings us the tidings and tells us no lies
She feeds on the pretty flowers in the spring of the year
And sings of my false love in a voice true and clear

A-walkin' and a-talkin', a-walkin' goes I
To meet my false lover and hear him deny
But if I'm forsaken, I have not foresworned
And he surely mistaken to think I shall mourn

For I can love little and I can love long
And I can love a sweetheart 'til a new one comes along
I can hug him, I can kiss him and prove my heart kind
And turn my back on him and likewise my mind

A-walkin' and a-talkin', a-walkin' goes I
To meet with my true love, we'll meet by and by
To walk and talk together it's all my delight
To walk and talk together from evening till night

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This is very close to lyrics I have but the last lines I sing for verse 1 are "She drinks the spring waters for to make her voice clear, When her nest she is building then summer is near" and there are a few other minor differences. Did Jean Ritchie record this song too? I sometimes sing the false hearted lover is worse than a thief verses but I dont know if they were in the song the way I first heard it. The song is made up of floating verses.

(her nest she is building?! stealing more like it)