Songs about bird watching?

Subject: Songs about bird watching?
From: Barbara
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 09:42 PM

I can think of lots of songs about birds, but not any offhand about watching birds, though some contain observations about bird behavior. (Like the Cuckoo).
And there's this Cuckoo parody:

The vulture is an ugly bird
It squawks as it flies.
It brings us sad tidings
And it eats them what dies.

So, anybody know more?
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Grab
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 01:35 PM

"The Bantam Cock" by Jake Thackray. ;-)

If you search the Digitrad for bird's names - blackbird, thrush, nightingale, robin (although use the advanced search to remove Robin Hood references), gull, etc - then you'll find quite a few.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,Hornythologist
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 01:37 PM

"Leaning on a Lamp Post"
George Formby

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 02:36 PM

...Pity there's none about t'Witch of Endor!

Regards

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 02:38 PM

And lurking around here somewhere is "Da Dude Done Run"!

Regards

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 02:52 PM

"Standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by"

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 03:23 PM

Roger Whittaker used to sing a song about his "Brazilian Love Bird"..
It started with "I see a little bird that is sitting in the treetops, a little little bird that is sitting in the treetops" and another line is "Fly my Brazilian Love Bird, Fly way across the sea"
Sorry but can't remember anymore.
He also sung "Yellow Bird".... not sure if they are anything to do with birdwatching though.
"English Country Garden" is another that talks of birds...ie "How many song Birds fly to and fro', in an English Country Garden"?.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 03:45 PM

Seems I do remember a song that runs:

The seagulls do fly high in Mobile,
The seagulls do fly high in Mobile,
The seagulls do fly high,
And they sh*t right in your eye,
In Mobile, oh, baby, mine.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 05:03 PM

I did know one similar to that but it was "Well the seagulls they fly high and they PHHHTT right in your eye, It's a good job pigs don't fly"

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Joybell
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 05:34 PM

How about that. I was just making an observation about this very subject on another thread. It was about "The Cuckoo" though and that's the one you started this thread with, Barbara.

There's also "The Twa Corbies" which tells us a lot about the dining habits of the Corvids.

"The Kookaburra Round" says kookaburras sit on old gum trees. Not much else of interest though. There's a parody about him "jumping up and down with his pants on fire" that might show a bird's eye view of a bushfire.

Another round goes: (Not a general observation but a bit of bird behaviour here).
My dame hath a lame, tame crane
My dame hath a crane that is lame
Oh say! Gentle Jane does your dame's lame, tame crane
Drink and come home again?


"Flow Gently Sweet Afton" talks about a screaming green-crested lapwing. We don't have that kind. Our lapwings don't scream but they do make rather a lot of noise. Mary would be woken up for sure by them.

There are lots of (usually little) birds that feature in old ballads, as possible visitors from the world of the supernatural, but observations of them are not quite the same thing are they?

"Singing Bird" compares birdsongs.



Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 07:18 AM

Weiß Schwalben sah ich fliegen

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 07:19 AM

"Weiße" actually

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Joybell
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 07:45 PM

"Babes in the Wood" is about the habit of covering bodies with leaves, by "robins so red". Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: beetle cat
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 09:51 PM

Au poor bird, wont you fly
High above the sorrows of
This sad night.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 04:43 AM

We need to be careful or we'll have people starting "life lists" of birds spotted in traditional songs!

Regards

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,Flintlock
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 07:34 AM

Barbara, m'Dear...

         Why in the name of Lucifer would anyone be Damned enough to write a song about Ornithological Pursuits? Don't mind the little things, quite Fond in a non-involvedment sort of way but don't particularly want to Sing about the Little Blighters!

         Still it takes All Sorts as me dear old Nurse uses to say...

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 01:18 PM

Just remembered - there's a song called Bird Watching on the Ashley Hutchings album The Wild Side Of Town that came out ages ago. From what I recall it's not at all "twitchy". Anyway, there are quite a few folkies who are genuine ornithologists - so there!

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GLoux
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 06:04 PM

Here are songs with birds, not about bird watching, though:

The Birds Were Singing of You...Carter Family

Over the Mountain...Uncle Dave Macon & Delmore Bros.

Free Little Bird...Bascom Lamar Lunsford

The Cuckoo...Clarence Ashley (already mentioned above)

-Greg

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Walter Corey
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 09:36 PM

Subject: ADD: The Bronx Bird Watcher (Alan Sherman)
From: Walter Corey
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 09:39 PM

Sorry - hit a wrong key
Allan Sherman wrote a parody to Tit-Willow called "The Bronx Bird Watcher"

The Bronx Bird Watcher
(Alan Sherman)

On a branch of a tree sat a little tomtit,
Singing willow, tit willow, tit willow.
An uncomfortable place for a boidie to sit,
Singing willow, tit willow, tit willow.
So I said to him, "Boidie, why don't you go way?"
He said, "Thanks very much, but I'm planning to stay.
I'm gung sit on that branch for the rest of the day,
Singing willow, tit willow, tit willow."

So I said to him, "Boidie, you look so distraught.
Singing willow, tit willow, tit willow.
You gonna be glad when you'll see what I brought.
A pillow, a pillow, a pillow."
I said, "Boidie, your pardon I humbly would beg.
Put this comfortable pillow right under your leg."
He said, "Leave me alone while I'm laying an egg.
Uh willow, tit willow, tit willow."

That night by the light of a matzoh ball moon,
Singing willow, tit willow, tit willow.
That boidie was singing the same catchy tune.
Willow, tit willow, tit willow.
And I came, and I took him right down from his branch,
And I brought him back home to mine split-level ranch,
And I said to my wife, "Here's a gift for you, Blanche.
He sings 'willow, tit willow, tit willow.'"

Next morning I got up and went to the shop,
Singing willow, tit willow, tit willow.
That tune was so catchy, it just wouldn't stop.
Willow willow willow titty willow willow willow titty willow willow willow willow.
That night I said, "Blanche, how's the bird?" She said, "Well,
The boid was delicious, it tasted just swell.
But as I fricaseed him, he gave out a yell:
'Oi willow, tit willow, tit willow.'"

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Barbara
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 10:13 PM

Good thing we don't all like the same things, hey?
What made me ask the question were two things, one, I'm looking for songs for my spouse to help celebrate his 60th, and he, an avid birder, asked if there were any songs about them. Two, there's a poem by E.B. White that I can't quite recall that is about identifying birdsong, and it's quite charming and very funny -- the line that sticks in my head is something like "Their morning song, their evensong; their Roger Tory Petersong" It complains about their tendency to mimic each other and other garden variety sounds. I figured if he could write a poem, maybe someone had written a song. And, as I see, someone has -- I forgot about the original Tit Willow, and thanks for Allan Sherman's parody above.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 14 Jan 05 - 03:56 PM

Dear Barbara,

May I offer the following. In light of the reason for your request, it seems delightfully apposite. It isn't a song, but a poem from the pen of Les Barker, and it is indeed about bird watching.

Don T.

KNOT

Last year, I determined to spend
Some time watching birds with a friend.
We got to the hide
And the mudflats beside us
Grew wide as the tide did descend.
The first bird I managed to spot
Was a bird that as yet he had not.
I said:"what is that?" He said "What?"
"Over there," I said; "is that a knot?"
He said: "That's a knot? No it's not;
Is that a knot? No, not quite;
If you think it's a knot, you're not right;
Not a bit like a knot; it's a twite."
"Excuse me; is that not a knot
Performing a sort of gavotte?"
He said "No it i'nt;
That's no knot; it's a stint."
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said; "I forgot.
What's that in that clump of weeb?
He said, rather feebly, "a grebe."
He's talking rot; I know it's a knot, but that's not
What he'd have me beliebe.
The hours passed by; it grew hot
And from time to time I said "A knot!"
In late aftemoon, "It's a knot!""It's a loon;
I knew we'd be seeing one soon.
You can tell by its call."
It said nothing at all;
Perhaps it's forgotten the tune.
I grew annoyed when my friend, with a hoot
Said "That's not a knot; it's a coot.
It could be a dove or
some plover or other
It's never a knot, me old fruit."
It was whimbrel or curlew or snipe;
From time to time, a crane;
A guillemot; but never a knot;
They seemed to be twites in the main.
"Does it look like a knot? It does not;
That is not what a knot looks like;
It isn't a dotterel and any bird spotteril
Tell you that's no knot; it's a shrike."
I think it was purely from malice he
Said that my knots were not knots;
There were auks interspersed
With a tern for the worse
And the occasional red-necked fallacy.
Now I may not be Peter Scott
And I may not know such a lot;
I know there's the odd wit
Who~l say "That's a Godwit."
But I know the truth; it's a knot.
The evening's parting shot was a dot
In the distance; I thought "What is thot?
I made a wild guess;
"It's a knot," I thought; "yes!"
"No it's not; not a knot, I'm afraid;"
He said :"it's a puffin."
And then he said nuffin
'Cos I'd just hit him with a spade.
A knot is a bird what flies in a herd;
I looked in a book and found this;
But the man is a fool who does not know the rule;
If I say it's a knot, then it is.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,guest tony
Date: 14 Jan 05 - 04:13 PM

How about Gulls of Dublin Town, The Tweets of London, Sorry!!

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Barbara
Date: 15 Jan 05 - 03:11 PM

That poem, Don, makes me think that Les must have read this one by Robert Frost:

I stepped on the toe
Of an unemployed hoe.
It rose in offense
And struck me a blow
On the seat of my sense.

Now it wasn't to blame
But I called it a name
For I must say it dealt
Me a blow that I felt --
Like malice prepense.

Now, wasn't there a rule
That a weapon should be turned into a tool?
And what do I see? The first tool I step on
Turns into a weapon.

(not sure about the line breaks -- I didn't look it up, just the old faulty memory.)
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 15 Jan 05 - 04:01 PM

Been there, and it don't 'arf hurt! Wish hubby a happy one for me.

Don T.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,skylarkbc123
Date: 16 Jun 19 - 11:32 PM

Spotted Sandpiper by Aziza Cooper, c 1985

One little shorebird pecking at a stone
With a white breast and a brown back
One little shorebird all on its own
It flew away and didn't come back

One little shorebird - what is your name?
I wish I could find you in my book
Dear little shorebird, won't you remain
At least till I have a better look?

Sung to an Irish tune - Shule Aroon

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Jun 19 - 07:45 PM

Quite a few bird species mentioned in Burns' poem/song "Song Composed in August", better known as "Now Westlin' Winds".
Lots of bird tune titles too:
The Curlew
The Seagull
The Snipe
Tammie Norie (puffin)
The Eagle's Whistle
Albatross
The Wren
And numerous songs about Wild Geese ( see ducks and geese thread!)

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 19 Jun 19 - 09:39 PM

December 2000 marked the centenary of the Audubon Clubs’ successful efforts to replace the “side hunt”, an annual Christmas Day orgy of competitive shooting of wild birds, with a better reason for going out to look for birds on Christmas morning. That was the beginning of the annual Christmas Bird Count, and I decided to commemorate the event by seeing what The Cutty Wren might be like in a 21st century birdwatching context. The title is "Wren 2K".

“Why have we all gathered?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“We’re off to the forest with checklists and pencils,
For this is a bird count” said Fessel to Fose.
“A bird count! A bird count!” said John the Red Nose.

“Are there other counters?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“Throughout North America, there are small groups
Who all share in the counting” said Fessel to Fose.
“The counting! The counting!” said John the Red Nose.

“How large is the forest?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“When we’re in the center, we can’t see the trees at
The edge of the forest” said Fessel to Fose.
“The forest! The forest!” said John the Red Nose.

“Why is that important?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“Because there are birds who are bothered by creatures
That live at the edges” said Fessel to Fose.
“The edges! The edges!” said John the Red Nose.

“Have we an example?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“The small winter wren, who we’re hoping to find
Has not yet left for winter” said Fessel to Fose.
“For winter! For winter!” said John the Red Nose.

“Is that not peculiar?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“This wren got its name at the opposite end
Of its winter migration” said Fessel to Fose.
“Migration! Migration!” said John the Red Nose.

“So is this wren common?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“It’s widespread, not common, and it is the one wren
That’s also in England” said Fessel to Fose.
“In England! In England!” said John the Red Nose.

“So why bother counting?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“We must gather data, so we can be warned of
The threat of extinction” said Fessel to Fose.
“Extinction! Extinction!” said John the Red Nose.

“What causes extinction?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“Two prominent reasons are habitat loss and
The spread of pollution” said Fessel to Fose.
“Pollution! Pollution!” said John the Red Nose.

“How can we prevent it?” said Miller to Mulder
One fine Christmas morning, just as the sun rose.
“We must limit growth, lest we lose many species
That dwell on our planet” said Fessel to Fose.
“Our planet! Our planet!” said John the Red Nose.


You can download a lead sheet with these words and the melody here .

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Jun 19 - 09:11 AM

Love it, Howard!

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: RTim
Date: 20 Jun 19 - 01:21 PM

The Bird in the Bush
A song, again collected by the Hammond Bros. in
both Dorset and Somerset, that tastefully uses sexual
imagery common in folk song. My version is influenced
by one collected by Bob Copper in Hampshire in the
1950's and is a 'one maid' version of the more common
'three maids' song, the one that never really tells you what happened to the other two!

The Song

A fair maid a milking did go
A fair maid a milking did go
And the wind it did blow high, and the wind it did blow low,
It blew her pails to and fro.

She met with a man that she knew
She met with a man that she knew
And she boldly asked of him, have you got any skill
To catch me a small bird or two.

Oh Yes, I have some skill
And a very good skill it is too,
If you will come with me to yonder shady tree,
I'll catch you a small bird or two.

So they went down together you shall see,
All under the green shady tree.
And he fired at the bush, and the bird it did fly in,
Just above her lily-white knee.

Here's a health to the man & the maid
Here's a health to the bird in the bush.
We're all birds of one feather and we'll all flock together
May the people say little or much.

Here's a health to the man & the maid,
Here's a health to the jolly dragoon,
We have tarried here all day and drank down the sun,
Let's tarry here and drink down the moon.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Jun 19 - 02:40 PM

A poem that probably could be set to music - "Birdwatchers' Bude"

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 20 Jun 19 - 07:12 PM

Quite obviously...someone was watching a bird...


Wild Bill first made me aware of this bird-watching song...

However, it was Beaver-Bam-Bam-Balls on stage at the Cardiff Millennial Stadium that seared it into my brain.

There was a little bird
No bigger than a turd
Sitting on a telephone pole
And he ruffled up his neck
And he shit about a peck...
He puckered up his little,
Asshole, asshole, asshole,
He puckered up his little asshole.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

I have a strange suspicion Beaver BamBam and John Malberg may be one and the same.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Jun 19 - 12:32 PM

E-trad "Country Life" has these words:

And I like to hear those small birds singing
Merrily upon their leyland

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jun 19 - 01:57 PM

what a lark it all is

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 22 Jun 19 - 08:10 PM

The Echo mocks the Corncrake: you can spend hours just hoping for a glimpse of one of these wee birdies: very well camouflaged, and shy about showing themselves too! (But make no mistake, you'll hear them rasping away all around you!)

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:28 AM

BIRD RETURN ?1997Judy Fjell(BMI)

CHORUS: The birds return in the spring, I love to hear them sing
Their colors fill the sky, I love to see them fly (Repeat)

First the white-crowned sparrows announce the season?s change
Then the meadowlarks start staking out their home upon the range
Bald eagles snatch the spawning trout, mergansers dip and dive
The geese are honking all night long, saying ?Nesting time?s arrived!? CHORUS

Finches, warblers, siskins, phoebes, juncoes too
Avocets, godwits, yellowlegs, stilts, pintails flying through
Phalaropes spin and splash, the redwings tweedle-dee
There are yellow heads in the cattails just as far as the eye can see CHORUS

Kingbirds on the fencewires, bluebirds in the pines
Herons in the rookeries, pelicans fly in graceful lines
Sandhill cranes stalk the fields, snipes winnow in the sky
You know the goldeneyes have long gone north when the swallows come to fly CHORUS

Bobolinks and buntings appear and disappear
Owls are dancing in the sky, you know summer?s almost here
Osprey dive and grab their prey, kestrel do the same
Killdeer run through the young green fields singing out their names CHORUS

BRIDGE:
Sometimes I feel discouraged about the world around
Unkindness and injustice, they bring my spirits down
Then a nighthawk diving in the sky with a whistling on his wings
Restores my soul in darkness, oh it makes me want to sing CHORUS

CHORUS:
4/4 Am / Am / G / E7-Am /
Am / Am / G / 2/4 E7 / 4/4 Am //
VERSES:
4/4 Am / Am / G / E7-Am /
Am / Am / G / E7-Am //
BRIDGE:
C / C / E7 / E7 /
F / F / E7 / E7 //

Honey Pie Music PO Box 1515 Big Timber, MT 59011 [phone] www.judyfjell.com

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:38 AM

Wood Thrush Song by Laurie Lewis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejCblfhmlJ0&list=PLF_jsGapS9WuHvpkFQ9-O4A4nlwoBKfTz&index=17&t=0s

Song of the Wood Thrush

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:42 AM

the blackest crow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HEdejIKYt0&list=PLF_jsGapS9WuHvpkFQ9-O4A4nlwoBKfTz&index=60

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:43 AM

Laurie Lewis put out an album of bird songs as a benefit for an audubon bird sanctuary.... http://www.rambles.net/lewis_birdsong02.html

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:46 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQqGF_FU26Q

Laurie Lewis and Aoife O'Donovan sing Hazel Dicken's Pretty Bird.

Subject: RE: Songs about bird watching?
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:50 AM

Laurie Lewis has a beautiful song called When the NIght Bird Sings... It is not avialable on you tube in this country....perhaps in the UK or elsewhere it can be found?