18 Jan 08 - 05:32 PM (#2239554) Subject: Songs For The Birds From: topical tom As an amateur birder of sorts, I would be interested in learning about songs to birds, for birds, or just about birds. Unlike the thread title may suggest, I am not interested in songs that, for whatever reason, should never have been written, although that too could be an interesting thread. Anyway here's an example
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18 Jan 08 - 05:49 PM (#2239573) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Jack Campin There are a *phenomenal* number of songs about nightingales in Turkish tradition (and traditions from nearby parts of the world). Three versions on YouTube of "Ötme bülbül" ("Do not sing, nightingale") alone. Just searching Digitrad for common bird names should give you enough to sing for a week. Be careful for false matches when looking for songs about male chickens. |
18 Jan 08 - 05:54 PM (#2239579) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Peace "I Heard the Bluebirds Sing" recorded by The Browns
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18 Jan 08 - 05:59 PM (#2239590) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Leadfingers If I Were a Blackbird ?? And Hovering Bob's Song - The Kestrel ! |
18 Jan 08 - 06:03 PM (#2239595) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Peace "Bird on a Wire" YOUTUBE--Cohen singing it. |
18 Jan 08 - 06:06 PM (#2239596) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Peace YOUTUBE: Love this version of BoaW by the Neville Brothers. |
18 Jan 08 - 06:12 PM (#2239603) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: GUEST,Volgadon There is a haunting Russin song, "Zhuravli" (the cranes). I posted it here a while ago. Another Russian one is "Chyorny Voron", where a dying Cossack sings to a black raven circling overhead. "Twa Corbies". "The Cuckoo" (She's a pretty bird). "The Lark in the Morning". |
18 Jan 08 - 06:14 PM (#2239609) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: amber What about 'Twa Corbies', or the Magpie song? (the one with the chorus that goes, 'Devil, devil I defy thee!') ? |
18 Jan 08 - 06:35 PM (#2239626) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Bill D posted years ago The Broom Squire's Bird Song |
19 Jan 08 - 06:26 AM (#2239903) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Genie Los Bilbilicos is a Ladino folk song that's basically a (human) love song that starts with singing about nightingales singing. I think it's interesting that Richard Fariña's Swallow Song is set to the same tune. |
19 Jan 08 - 09:55 AM (#2239970) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: GUEST,leeneia Mockin' Bird Hill. Written about 1946, it's not just a hillbilly song. It's a song about peace and being home after a terrible war. I can't bring myself to sing tra-la-la twiddle-e-dee-dee, so I just stick with tra-la-la. |
19 Jan 08 - 11:24 AM (#2240022) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Gene "The BIRD" by Jerry Reed...a real hoot!!! |
19 Jan 08 - 01:02 PM (#2240060) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Jim Carroll False kite on the toad Jim Carroll |
19 Jan 08 - 06:01 PM (#2240223) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: topical tom GUEST leeneia: Yes, Mockin' Bird Hill was one of my father's (and mine) favourite songs. I didn't realize that it was a post-war song, though. Thanks for that info. |
19 Jan 08 - 07:36 PM (#2240277) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: open mike Laurie Lewis has an album of bird songs dedicated to the Audubon Canyon Ranch..a fundraiser for it, which I think has netted $10,000 or more https://www.laurielewis.com/s_m/store/bird.html She also sings a song When the Night Bird Sings...beautiful Sally Van Meter (dobro player)sings a song called (You Were) The Bird That I Held in My Hand ('Til I learned to Fly on My Own) I think it is by T. Bone Burnett, of Oh, Brother fame. I have done my radio show featuring songs about birds and had no trouble coming up with 2 full hours. Judy Fjell has a song Birds Return... I think it is the title song. and here is a site with actual bird's songs---slowed down http://www.hawkowlsnest.com/2007/11/slowed-down-bird-songs.html Nanci Griffith has a beautiful love song -- Gulf Coast Highway
"And when she dies, she says, she'll catch some blackbird's wing. Then she will fly away to Heaven" |
19 Jan 08 - 07:44 PM (#2240284) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: open mike oh yes, Dolly Parton has a title song Little Sparrow, and Kathy Kallick has a song "Center of the World" that says "if the sparrow falls then the Lord will see" and what about I'd rather be a sparrow than a tree, (I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail.....) I believe this is taken from a South American song...[El Condor Pasa] who did it? Simon and Garfunkel? or was it a swallow? in Across the Great Divide by Kate Wolf, there is a line "Now I hear the owl a-callin' softly as the night was fallin'" Kate had lots of Nature images in her music.. "The Redtail Hawk writes songs across the sky"... When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along... |
19 Jan 08 - 10:58 PM (#2240366) Subject: Lyr Add: THE BIRDS AND THE BEES (Reggie Miles) From: reggie miles I just posted a rough of this one on my ezfolk site The Birds And The Bees. I just wish I had a better whistler. I may have to over dub that part. The Birds and The Bees Reggie Miles 2008 Way up high on his perch in the trees. A lonely little bird was a whistlin' in the breeze Callin' every girly bird for miles around Why don't we build a little love nest on the outskirts of town? It happens each and every spring In the same old fashioned way Listen and you can hear him sing His lonesome blues away Busily buzzin' from flower to flower A lonely little bee collectin' nectar by the hour Carries it back to his she bee's hive Hopes to get some honey there when he arrives It happens each and every spring In the same old fashioned way Listen and you can hear him buzz His lonesome blues away Wonderin' just what I got to do To find myself somebody who is sweet and true Sing the same old song wherever I go Don't want to sing these lonesome blues no more It happens each and every spring In this same old fashioned way Listen and you can hear me sing And play these lonesome blues away Listen to me people hear what I say Learn a little lesson from Mother Nature today The birds and the bees they know what to do Don't you waste another minute feelin' lonesome and blue |
19 Jan 08 - 11:42 PM (#2240382) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: mark gregory my favorites would be in no particular order Roscoe Holcomb - Little Birdie see youTube Clarence Ashley - The Coo Coo Bird see youTube McPeake Family of Ireland - My Singing Bird visit |
20 Jan 08 - 01:02 AM (#2240402) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: open mike [Free Little Bird] I'm as free a little bird as I can be, I will build my nest in a white oak tree so those bad boys cannot bother me.. does anyone know where this is from? trad I think...Appalachian? |
20 Jan 08 - 01:16 PM (#2240666) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Jack Blandiver Robin Redbriest's Testament |
20 Jan 08 - 01:58 PM (#2240697) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: GUEST,buspassed The late Lal Waterson always had an affinity with our feathered friends and reflected it in some of the best of her beautiful songs. 'Flight of the Pelican', 'Migrating Bird', 'The Bird' spring to mind with my own favourite reference being from 'Child Among the Weeds' off the lost album 'Bright Phoebus. "Fly bird fly on your raven wing. Take to the sky and sing for the love of wheeling and turning" Wonderful stuff! |
20 Jan 08 - 03:12 PM (#2240744) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Jack Blandiver Here's a pass-time for a rainy day; reckon up the bird references on Bright Phoebus - sparrows, jenny wrens, ravens and all. Wonderful stuff indeed - though my favourite BP track remains the twisted rockabilly of Danny Rose! |
20 Jan 08 - 03:19 PM (#2240751) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Jack Blandiver Blowing our own trumpet (hem-hem) : Bird 2004 |
21 Jan 08 - 05:04 AM (#2241107) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Genie El Condor Pasa (English version sung by Simon & Garfunkel - not sure if it's an Andean folk song that they modified) - "I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail ... " Rockin' Robin Bye Bye, Blackbird Blackbird (Beatles) Nu Bello Cardillo (Italian song about a little bird, sung by Joan Baez) Yellow Bird The Nancy Griffith/James Hooker song "Gulf Coast Highway" mentioned above has this line in the chorus (slightly modified for each chorus): "And when we die we say we'll catch some blackbird's wing, And we will fly away to heaven, come some sweet bluebonnet spring.: Three Craws (Sa' upon a wa') -- (Scots children's song) |
21 Jan 08 - 05:12 AM (#2241109) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Genie Listen To The Mocking Bird Sparrow In The Treetop The Gift (Stephanie Davis) - Christmas song about an orphan girl who finds and nurses a bird with a broken wing and gives it to the Christ child as the only thing she has to give, and the bird ends up giving her (and everyone) "the very first nightingale's song." Let's All Sing Like The Birdies Sing Hares on the Mountain (Scots-Irish ballad) contains the verse: If all the young girls were like blackbirds and thrushes, Young men would take sticks and go beat in the bushes." (I'm not sure that verse is really about our avian friends, though.) ; ) |
21 Jan 08 - 05:17 AM (#2241111) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Genie Or, if we're talking metaphorical birds, there's "The Eagle And The Dove." Cu-cu-ru-cu-cu Paloma La Paloma La Golondrina - (The Swallow) Una Paloma Blanca La Colombe (The Dove) (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover Jonathan Livingston Seagull And let's not forget Tom Lehrer's classic: Poisoning Pigeons in the Park |
21 Jan 08 - 05:21 AM (#2241113) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Genie The Wild Goose The Fox (has verses about ducks and geese) The Ugly Duckling (from the movie "Hans Christian Andersen") Go Tell Aunt Rhody (The Old Gray Goose Is Dead) Chickens [The Rooster Song] (We had some chickens, No eggs would they lay ... ) Gallo Del Cielo (song about a fighting cock) |
21 Jan 08 - 10:11 AM (#2241261) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Flash Company The marvellous Johnny Mercer had ' Bob White, whatcha gonna swing tonight?' And Nat Cole had one called 'Brazilian Lovebird' My favorite would have to be an instrumental though, Los Paraguayos, 'Bellbird' FC |
21 Jan 08 - 11:44 PM (#2241771) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Genie Alouette (The Lark) |
21 Jan 08 - 11:50 PM (#2241773) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds - Poor Little Robin From: Genie Not sure this is 'really' about a bird, but here goes: (Poor Little Robin) Walking To Missouri G |
22 Jan 08 - 03:57 AM (#2241813) Subject: Lyr Add: THE MAID AND THE MAGPIE (Cyril Poacher) From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle FSO Cyril Poacher Once there was a maid kept an old magpie, The parson who prayed livèd very close by, And when she met the parson, they both stopped to talk And often on the quiet they would go for a cosy walk. For her lover was a sailor; he crossed the raging main, He promised she would be his bride when he returned again, But still she let the parson see her home from church, Kissing and never thinking of the magpie on the perch. Chorus: So the maid and the magpie would talk all the day, The maid would not believe all the magpie did say. She said, "I love the parson. Don't you tell the tar." And the old magpie only said, "Qua, qua." Now when stationed at Gib-a-raltar, the sailor, so it seems, Whilst he was sleeping in his bunk, he had a funny dream. He dreamt the girl he'd left behind on dear old England's shore, Whilst he was away she was flirting with a half-a-dozen more. So he made his passage homeward as quickly as could be. He landed safely at her house, but no maiden could he see. When talking to the magpie who was dancing on the perch, And the magpie told him all about the parson at the church. Chorus: For he then went for the parson, and unfor him did search. He found which way the wind blew, so he hooked him from the church. They brought the magpie into court, who told a truthful tale. And to get what he required, of course, this maiden she did fail. Chorus: Now when the sailor met this maid, he passed her with disdain. She sued a breach of promise for five thousand to obtain. The lawyer could not find it out, so the case went on the shelf, And the tricky little maiden had to live all by herself. Chorus: |
02 Feb 08 - 07:14 PM (#2251951) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: GUEST,Volgadon http://www.nostalgia.org.il/amuta/freemp3/To_The_Bird.html Israel's national poet, Bialik, wrote a poem entitled "To the Bird". It's about a man talking to a migrating bird which has just returned from Israel, which the man longs for. The melody this was set to is an old folk tune. |
02 Feb 08 - 08:34 PM (#2252014) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Suegorgeous I've lost my spotted crow. |
02 Feb 08 - 08:48 PM (#2252026) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Suegorgeous Jay tripper Wren will I see you again? Puffin the mule (oh dear...sorry...I blame Jim, he started it...) :0 |
02 Feb 08 - 09:49 PM (#2252052) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Effsee The Cuckoo's Nest, Jeannie Robertson. |
03 Feb 08 - 12:17 AM (#2252099) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: GUEST,Mike B. The Great Speckle Bird (Ray Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans) Sparrow (Simon & Garfunkel) Song To A Seagull (Joni Mitchell) Night Bird (Lisa Moscatiello) |
03 Feb 08 - 02:44 AM (#2252111) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: quantock Sing a Song of Sixpence (Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie) Babes in the Wood Bird in the Bush Sweet Nightingale (My sweetheart come along, etc.) The Nightingale (They both sat down together love to hear the nightingale sing) The Owl (Of all the birds that ever I see, the owl is the fairest in her degree, etc.) Hares on the Mountain (has several verses about birds) The Ugly Duckling Six Little Ducks Little White Duck Lucy Wan Crazy Man Michael Magpie (One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy) Love Lift Us Up (Where We Belong) (from movie An Officer and a Gentleman) She Was a Sweet Little Dicky Bird Kookaburra (Sits in the Old Gum Tree) 1000 Candles, 1000 Cranes (by Small Potatoes) Carrion Crow Kangaroo Tufted Titmouse (An American old-time tune played by Missouri fiddler Billy Matthews; the tune imitates the call of the bird) The Happy Wanderer The Tweet Song The Outlandish Knight If I Had Wings Like Noah's Dove [Dink's Song?] Oh! For the Wings of a Dove [this one?] She Moved through the Fair |
03 Feb 08 - 06:19 PM (#2252738) Subject: Lyr Add: SPADGE (Duncan McFarlane) From: HipflaskAndy I used to get House Sparrows in my garden. Used to, but no longer! A few years back I read an article in my quarterly RSPB magazine which discussed reasons for the decline of House Sparrows in the UK... and a poem, some of which stuck in my head... The inevitable resultant song made it onto m' band's latest CD 'All Rogues & Villains' - and then we heard their numbers were on the up again! Spadge (D.McFarlane) There were those I knew never had a song From clad-ivy walls & eave they would raise their young Puddle-fluttering fun, after dust bath play They'd fall on grain we'd spill in our working day. (Chorus) Old friends, once so familiar, so close to everyone Where have they gone? Where have they gone? The widespread, once abundant - it seems their time has flown What have we done? What have we done? Not so long ago - In the ripening corn They'd rise up ahead in flocks as you walked along From the town-crowd pave or the midden high In a swirling, chattering throng they'd pass you by (Ch) 'Tween the new sew-stacks and the old mill door Where once new-threshed we'd drag the sheaves of straw From the paddock *fank to the urban sprawl From wood to city street can you hear them call? (Ch) *fank - sheep pen/enclosure Some of the old names for 'sparrow'..... (England) spadge, spadger, spug, spuggy, sprog, spadgick (Orkney) sprog, speug, sparrag, sporrow; (Shetland) spuggie, sparky, spjugg, sporra, sporrow; (Middle English) sprewe; (Old English) sparwa, spearwa More details..... on the songs page here - will try and put a sample of the song on that website, mebbe tomorrow if time allows. |
03 Feb 08 - 06:25 PM (#2252740) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: The Sandman The Cuckoo She Is like a Swallow The Wren Song [this one?] |
04 Feb 08 - 12:43 AM (#2252937) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Kent Davis There are the traditional Appalachian fiddle tunes "Turkey in the Straw" and "Cluck, Old Hen". Also, West Virginia country singer Little Jimmy Dickens sang, "May the Bird of Paradise Fly up Your Nose" Kent |
27 Dec 19 - 06:06 PM (#4025136) Subject: Lyr Add: OF ALL THE BRAVE BIRDS THAT EVER I SEE... From: Jim Dixon From The Essex Harmony: Being an Entire New Choice Collection of the Most Celebrated Songs, Catches, Canzonets, Canons and Glees ..., Volume 2 (London: J Buckland and S. Crowder, 1777), page 41: Of all the brave birds that ever I see, The owl is the fairest in her degree, For all the day long she sits in a tree, And when the night comes, away flies she. Te whit! Te whoo! To whom drinks thou? Sir knave, to thou.* This song is well sung; I make you a vow, And he is a knave that drinketh now. Nose, nose, nose, nose, And who gave thee that jolly red nose? Cinnamon and ginger, nutmeg and cloves, And that gave me this jolly red nose. - - - - * Some sources say "to thee" which is grammatical, but "to thou" rhymes better. The above "glee" is ascribed to "Mr. Freeman" but I suppose that only applies to the arrangement for 3 voices. I have also seen it ascribed to Ravenscroft Another copy appears in Amusement for the Ladies: Being a Selection of the Favorite Catches, Canons, Glees, and Madrigals…, Vol. 4 (London: Broderip & Wilkinson, [ca. 1800]), page 40. |
27 Dec 19 - 07:23 PM (#4025139) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Yellow Bird (mentioned upthread and covered as Silver Bird (Dutch) - Little Oriole (Mandarin) - ad nauseum. Choucoune Little Bird (Ti Zoizeau) Into the Air (Junior Birdmen) |
27 Dec 19 - 08:52 PM (#4025143) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Sandra in Sydney Australia - Carol of the Birds by Wheeler & James - pics of the birds mentioned & lyrics here on this blurry video John Broomhall (Australian folkie, not UK composer, music artist, jazz keyboardist, sound designer) Bird Song - description from "My Spirit Country" (1991) Australia is blessed with over 700 species of bird (around 650 native to the country.) I've tried to give a fair representation of our birds in this song but have to admit that I've only just skimmed the surface. sandra |
30 Dec 19 - 12:02 PM (#4025500) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: John C. Bunnell Certainly "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins" should qualify here. |
30 Dec 19 - 06:25 PM (#4025554) Subject: RE: Songs For The Birds From: Sandra in Sydney Australia's Fay White has a song about the (almost extinct) night parrot |
02 Jan 20 - 04:57 PM (#4026016) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: Mrrzy In A La Claire Fontaine there are lovely lines about a nightingale... |
04 Jan 20 - 08:49 PM (#4026368) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: Stewie I don't think this fine song from Harvey Andrews has been mentioned. The Mallard [lyrics] --Stewie. |
19 Jan 20 - 07:48 PM (#4029143) Subject: Lyr Add: BIRD SONG (John Broomhall) From: Sandra in Sydney BIRD SONG, Words and Music John Broomhall Adelaide Hills, it's early mornin', through the window see them yawnin', Lonesome travellers wind their way back home; Misty valleys, lofty ranges, signposts mock our weary strangers: Pack a road map mate next time you roam! There's a Kookaburra, Cuckoo, Bronzewing, Budgerigar, Lorikeet, Cat Bird, Currawong, an old Galah; Frog Mouth, Magpie, Miner, and a White-Winged Chough, A Babbler, a Warbler, and even a bird called Rough. Somewhere up in Northern Queensland, sunshine bright, golden sea sand, We're lyin' on the beach the way that dreamers do. Paradise Lost, ah poor John Milton, he didn't get to stay at the Douglas Hilton, I guess he missed Mossman, Kuranda, and Cooktown too. Seagull, Plover, Petrel, and Ocean Tern, Albatross, Grebe, Shearwater and Frigate Bird; Cormorant, Pelican, Gannet and Cockatoo, Cassowary, Egret, Heron and Jabiru. Life's a breeze in the centre of Australia, corroboree's the only regalia, Wide brown land, and a sky that's big and blue; Camel Drivers wearin' turbans, nothin' here you'd call suburban, They're all dinkum Aussies through and through. Curlew, Drongo, Falcon, Emu, Wren, Brolga, Spoonbill, Duck and Native Hen; Spinebill, Thrush and Lark up in the sky, Swallow, Butcher, Robin, Silver-eye. Soldier, Shoe Maker, Coot and Sooty Owl, Buzzard, Booby, Bell and Mallee Fowl; Rainbow, Sparrow, Crow and Whistling Kite, A Wedge-tailed Eagle and a Boobook late at night. (c) Copyright J. Broomhall 1991 |
19 Jan 20 - 10:39 PM (#4029153) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: Karen Impola When I saw "The Mallard", I was expecting this song, which is also in the Mudcat archives. (Why can I not make a blue clicky to the lyrics?) Fiddle/mandolin/guitar player Joe Weed has an album called "Waltz of the Whippoorwill", with 11 tunes he wrote that incorporate motifs from actual birdsongs. It's cool. Repülj madár, repülj (Fly Bird, fly) is by the Hungarian band Muzsikás. Lyrics and translation at the link. Did anyone mention "Leather-wing bat" yet? No, a bat is not a bird, but there are lots of birds in the lyrics. Bert Jansch's Bird Song is a nice one. Lyrics here. Johnsmith, who lives in Wisconsin and smushes his first and last name together, has a song called Jaybird. John Smith, who is from England and keeps his names separated, sings Hummingbird, but now that I listen to it all the way through, I realize that the bird in question is a metaphor. Or is it a simile? There's always Joni Mitchell's "Song to a Seagull". My clicky-making muscles are getting tired. |
19 Jan 20 - 10:55 PM (#4029154) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: GUEST,Crowlibrarian A couple to add - The Cuckoo (many versions) and Gillian Welch's Acony Bell. |
19 Jan 20 - 11:03 PM (#4029155) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: Karen Impola Speaking of Gillian Welch, there's "Winter's Come and Gone" too. |
20 Jan 20 - 06:35 AM (#4029185) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: Vic Smith Could I bring to your attention: - "ALL THE BIRDS OF THE AIR" Lewes musicians & singers Vic & Tina Smith (www,users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic) of the Sussex Pistols & Folk at the Royal Oak bring a multi-media show celebrating our feathered friends in song, tune, verse & folklore, with many illustrations. The live performance will be interspersed with a few recordings of relevant songs from some of Britain's finest traditional singers and many slides of the birds featured in the songs.. Tina plays English concertina & Vic plays guitar & mandola. They premiered this show at Tenterden Folk Festival in October to a capacity crowd. This attention has already gained the show a number of bookings at folk clubs in South-East England. The rest of the evening will be filled by members of the audience performing a song or tune if they wish. Everyone is welcome, especially if you'd like to sing or play. We mostly sing and play traditional music from the British Isles, but we enjoy other styles as well. We always start off with some English dance tunes for anyone with an instrument to join in. Lewes Saturday Folk Club Elephant and Castle White Hill, Lewes BN7 2DJ. 8:00 to 11:00 every Saturday evening For further details and advance tickets, phone (01273) 476757 or email |
20 Jan 20 - 08:39 AM (#4029191) Subject: RE: Songs for the Birds From: Jeri Wild Birds, by Jan Harmon. I couldn't find a video. |