Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 11 Oct 21 - 01:50 PM

Note that in the second verse it is pronounced "that' swan thing I'll admit" in order to up the bird name count!

The last verse first line ends with the word "loose", and leave you expecting goose as a rhyme.

Robin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: cnd
Date: 11 Oct 21 - 12:30 PM

There are two threads on this song, the other can be found here. I think they should be combined or linked.

Thanks for consolidating things, Dave. Did your linked lyrics (clikc) correct my transcription any? I haven't checked thoroughly myself but it seems mostly similar.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 11 Oct 21 - 09:08 AM

https://youtu.be/pyjPL_fHlVU

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 11 Oct 21 - 09:04 AM

If there is anyone still following this thread, here is a video of the song with a link to the words in the description.
https://youtu.be/pyjPL_fHlVU

You're welcome
Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: severed-head
Date: 21 Jan 16 - 09:40 AM

I don't have the lyrics but you can hear the song here
Live at Harwich Shanty Festival
Someone with better hearing than me may be able to transcribe the lyrics!
Garry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: breezy
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 02:02 PM

I Know Gideon

Last seen walking the plank

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,Guest TF
Date: 02 Nov 15 - 12:16 PM

I have all the words!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: EBarnacle
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 09:25 PM

Please bring the mudlark song to these pages already.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 12:28 PM

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Gideon was singing it in Bampton over this last weekend!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 09:27 AM

Never heard Pete Singh the song. But it would be hard to surpass Gideon Barretts version. We have heard him sing it many a time, the song is best sung standing on a chair, it's the physical actions that makes the song ad well. we had the pleasure of him singing it for us at our wedding in Dublin last year in O'Donohues of Merrion Row.

Roy & Mags Dublin Ireland

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Aug 12 - 02:35 PM

I have emailed Pete McNab on two occasions within the last year to ask him if I could use this song in my reportoire, I have not had a reply to either of them.
That of course is his choice, a reply would have been nice if only to say no.
As Harvey Andrews said to me some years back a song not sung is a dead song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Myrtle's cook
Date: 14 Aug 12 - 11:29 AM

Pete sang this song at a sing around at Saltburn festival, but due to aching laughter I forgot to ask for the words.

He then went on to win the Singer Song writer competition with an equally good (though serious) song.

Congratulations sir - should you or your brother pick up this thread!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 19 Sep 11 - 10:41 AM

Thread refresh for Soldierboy...

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 04:52 AM

Last line of the chorus in Pete's Scottish accent..

Wi' a twinkle in her ain gud ee an' a breath that reeks of fish.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 02 Nov 10 - 05:25 PM

I've not seen Pete McNab at a festival this year, but I have heard Gideon sing One Eyed Cormorant. Might be worth e-mailing Hanging Johnny for info before they disband....

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 02 Nov 10 - 04:23 PM

That sounds brilliant. why don't we have a revolution in this country. Life wouldn't be so bad - we could manage to live through shitty economic times, if you could turn on the telly and hear great songs like that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Lady Policeman
Date: 02 Nov 10 - 03:47 PM

Chorus:

Oh I'm a one-eyed cormorant I'm looking for a shag,
I don't want an Eider duck or a drake that's dressed in drag
The bird I want's a cracker, a one eyed little dish
With a twinkle in her one good eye and her breath that smells of fish.........                   (I think)

It was Gideon Barrett from Hanging Johnny who sang it yet again! Always requested. Sorry don't know all the verses.
Great song to lift a session when it's getting a bit dirgy!

Kath

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 02 Nov 10 - 08:57 AM

I've just come across some old cassettes of our group practices...
but it's not on them!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,rogertheplonker
Date: 01 Nov 10 - 09:58 AM

Has anyone yet got the lyrics to the 'One eyed Cormorant lookin for a Shag' please. Twas sung at the Bampton Folk fest this last weekend, and no doubt many many times before that. A recording would be good enough, to extract the words.

Roger Plonker
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,The elusive pimpernel!
Date: 05 Oct 09 - 03:17 PM

I don't want an Eider duck or a drake that's dressed in drag
The bird I wants a cracker........................

That's all for now folks!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 12 Aug 09 - 06:56 AM

The pun is in the first line
'I'm a one eyed cormorant looking for a shag'

   a shag is both a name for a member of the cormorant family and a british slang term for sexual intercourse. The song ends with the line....she was my first shag... normally a memorable occasion.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 11:45 PM

I don't get the etymological meaning of all this, but there seems to be some ornithological punning going on.

Here's Wikipedia's article about the Guanay Cormorant, also known as the Guanay Shag, Phalacrocorax bougainvillii, which lives along the coast of Peru and Chile.

I'm guessing that "Guanay" is pronounced something like "one-eye".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Aug 09 - 08:23 PM

It's just a question of time till this song finally surfaces here.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 10 Aug 09 - 04:05 PM

I have contact info for Pete Mc Nab if you PM me, but you'd need to become a Mudcat member to do that. I would guess that the singer at South Zeal was Gideon Barrett from Hanging Johnny because he was singing in the Oxenham Arms at South Zeal during the Dartmoor Folk Festival...

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: GUEST,John C
Date: 10 Aug 09 - 12:45 PM

It was sung on Saturday (8th August) in South Zeal during the Dartmoor Folk festival. Hence my search here to find a copy of the words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant (Pete McNab)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 05:35 PM

Thanks Robin/ BBCW - I was going to suggest contacting you, but had forgotten your Mudcat name!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 09:34 AM

Robin-

Sounds like my favorite kind of song.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 07:23 AM

Not vile, humerous with plenty of inuendo and terrible puns.

I think that Pete did not want to release the lyrics until he had the song available as a recording and that events have delayed things, I've left the group, Pete and Anita's son is now in New Zealand as far as I know and they have spent some time travelling over there.

Robin

Subject: RE: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Mr Red
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 07:04 AM

Pete was asked some time ago if he would provide the lyrics. He declined then, I was the one who phoned him. There is a thread on it if you go back far enough. Say 10 years max.

Subject: RE: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 03:09 PM

We're at a 60th birthday bash in Dorset next weekend, so won't be at Upton. But I'm sure you'll find Pete if he's there!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 09:30 AM

Odd that no one has posted the lyrics to this one in all these years. Are they that vile?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 07:16 AM

Hey, just found this old thread, it went cold. I recently opened a new one and hope to trace the elusive mr. McNab to Upton this weekend.

Subject: RE: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 06:54 AM

Will be there. Please point him out Kitty, presuming you/'re going.Jeff

Subject: RE: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 02:42 AM

Jeff - if you're singing with the Exmouth shantymen at Upton, it's probably worth making inquiries there; Pete's been booked at the festival (with Hen's Teeth)in past years.

Kitty

Subject: RE: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 07:48 PM

Thanks for that. Do you have a contact for Pete McNab?

Subject: RE: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 07:17 AM

I've not got the words but it was written by Pete McNab of Cheddar for a cometition on the theme of ornithology.
He also wrote a sequel to the same tune with the bird's further adventures.

Subject: lyrics required Cormorant song
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 06:41 AM

Has anyone got the lyrics to 'I'm a one eyed cormorant looking for a shag' which is sung to the tune of 'putting on the agony'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 03:42 PM

refresh...I'm also dying for the lyrics

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Fergie
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 11:56 AM

We are running out of patience. Has the CD seen the light of day yet? We want those words NOW. (((please)))
Fergus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Teribus
Date: 07 Oct 02 - 07:39 AM

Thanks Mr. Red LOL!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Mr Red
Date: 07 Oct 02 - 07:36 AM

NO - sorry but I will keep one eye on it.............
I'll get my coat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Teribus
Date: 07 Oct 02 - 05:04 AM

Any further news on the CD with this song on it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Nov 01 - 12:25 PM

Its a cracker, but I don't have the words. Book him for your festival or club. He also sings with Anita and they go under the name of Macanabba. PM me here if you are considering it & I will give you his phone number (at library so don't have it to hand).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 09:20 AM

WE WANT THIS SONG NOW!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Mr Red
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 02:40 PM

I rang Pete, and he was aware of the interest. He is in the process of making a CD which is mere weeks away. He will be at Upton Folk Festival in early May.
I told him the story above about the difference between shag & comorant and he (in all seriousness) reported shags are more common in Scotland (!!) comorants in the south, and shag don't venture inland.
Pete has just written a song about a peacock with a limp. A veritable imaginary menagerie.
but sorry - no lyrics he is thinking about publishing, maybe here. Wait for the CD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: GUEST,Mr Red at work
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 12:24 PM

It may have been brain fade. the thread on "Breathalised" was alo one of my visits. I will try to find Pete's tel no and see what we can do. He may not want to post. Have a nice holiday.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: cyder_drinker
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 07:13 PM

[Mr Red] Where were they posted? Can you do a blue clicky thing?
I have to go away tomorrow morning, and would love to take the words with me...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Mr Red
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 03:32 PM

now I can tell that story is a myth because in Kernak the correct form of description for tourist is emmet or as they say in English "ant". Grockles is a term more common in Devon and Zummerset.
a small point but this afternoon I saw the very words posted
and my post on the London folk thread got discombuberated, so we have had a crash. I think today's posts have been cormoranted. Or it took a dive.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 22 Oct 01 - 11:39 AM

Thread creep (excuse for old jokes).The boatmen on the Scilly Isles tease the grockles (tourists) that you can tell a cormorant from a shag because one has 12 feathers in its tail and the other has 13.
If anyone asks you the difference, of course, the acceptable answer is: "I don't know, it's a long time since I had a good cormorant".
RtS (what did you expect? Jack Benny?)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Eyed Cormorant
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 05:55 PM

We may have to write our own version if you folks don't hurry it up. Mudcats want their music NOW!;-)