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13 Aug 08 - 12:19 PM (#2412577) Subject: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Jayto I have heard that the Song The Cuckoo Bird is an old song from England. I first heard Dock Boggs do it and later Doc Watson. Does anyone know if that is correct? "Oh the cuckoo she's a pretty bird Lord she warbles when she flies" |
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13 Aug 08 - 12:26 PM (#2412586) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: dick greenhaus Yep. Many versions. |
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13 Aug 08 - 12:33 PM (#2412593) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Jayto Thanks |
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13 Aug 08 - 01:07 PM (#2412628) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Uncle_DaveO In some treatments, "She wobbles as she flies". Dave Oesterreich |
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13 Aug 08 - 01:20 PM (#2412637) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Jayto Yeah your right. There seems to be alot of variations of this song. |
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13 Aug 08 - 01:46 PM (#2412666) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: nutty Can't remember where I learnt my version but I sing ...... "Oh the cuckoo she's a pretty bird She sings as she flies She brings us good tidings Tells us no lies She sucks the pretty birds eggs To keep her voice clear And when she sings 'Cuckoo' The summer is near" |
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13 Aug 08 - 02:02 PM (#2412682) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Bee Version I learned to sing: Oh the cuckoo she's a good bird She wobbles as she flies And she never hollers cuckoo 'Til the fourth day of July Gonna build me a log cabin On a mountain so high So that I can see my darlin' As he walks on by Jack o' Diamonds, Jack o' Diamonds I know you of old You robbed my poor pockets Of my silver and gold I've gambled in England I've gambled in Spain I bet you ten dollars I'll beat you the very next game Oh the cuckoo she's a good bird She wobbles as she flies And she never hollers cuckoo 'Til the fourth day of July |
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13 Aug 08 - 02:57 PM (#2412753) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Steve Gardham The Cuckoo is one of those lyric pieces that easily transmutes into other songs and has done so for centuries so you're quite likely to find what have become some of its stock verses in a wide variety of other similar lament-for-lost-love/ regret lyrics. This side of the pond its verses can be found in 17thc broadside ballads such as 'The Young Man's Lamentation' at the Bodleian Broadside Ballad website. Douce Ballads 2 (261b). The image is very obscured. I have a transcription online and will post its reference in a few minutes when I can find it. |
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13 Aug 08 - 03:39 PM (#2412791) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Stringsinger Jean Ritchie does a fine version. Clarence Ashley also. Frank |
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13 Aug 08 - 03:43 PM (#2412794) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Steve Gardham Okay. If this doesn't work Malcolm or somebody will have to do a blue clicky thing. www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/dungheap.htm Then click on article 17 and you've got background and text to one of the very early usages of Cuckoo's verses. |
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13 Aug 08 - 04:05 PM (#2412813) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: nutty www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/dungheap.htm |
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13 Aug 08 - 04:09 PM (#2412819) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: nutty I'll try again www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/dungheap.htm |
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13 Aug 08 - 08:23 PM (#2413032) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Stewie Meade's earliest printed citation is to Journal of the Folk-Song Society (London 1899-1931) III, 90; VI, 14 and to Alfred Williams 'Folksongs of the Upper Thames' (London, Duckworth, 1923) p 165. The earliest American recording was by Kelly Harrell in June 1926 but not issued until April 1929. There were also recordings in 1928 by Grayson and Whitter and by Bradley Kincaid. Clarence Ashley made his well-known recording in October 1929. Apart from Ashley's, I reckon my favourite recording of this is a live performance by Townes Van Zandt (with unknown fiddler) which was released on his 'Roadsongs' album. Roadsongs. --Stewie. |
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13 Aug 08 - 08:53 PM (#2413049) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Joe_F From my journal, 24 April 1972: I discovered today, by accident (browsing in a Shakespeare glossary), that "to be forsworn" can mean "to perjure oneself". This may shed light on a verse that to me is one of the most beautiful in English (from "The Cuckoo"): If I am forsaken I'll not be forsworn, And he's surely mistaken if he thinks that I'll mourn. I'll get myself up in some right high degree And pass as light by him as he can by me. Most women, in particular, are moved by this; I wrote it in the notebook of a whore I met in a psychiatrist's office in New York, and the secretaries at Phys. Rev. preserved a sheet of paper I'd doodled it on in a meeting as an attempt at a new style of calligraphy. But what does the first line mean? My guess was "Just because he forsakes me I won't let the whole male sex swear off me", but that seems rather farfetched. Could it mean "...I won't pretend that my feelings are other than they are (i.e., relief)"? It's still pretty obscure. |
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14 Aug 08 - 12:02 AM (#2413157) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Kent Davis Joe F, I've never heard that verse but I like it. I would take it to mean: "If I were forsaken, I would still speak the truth, and the truth is that, instead of mourning, I would choose to behave as if I were just as uncaring as my betrayer". Kent |
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14 Aug 08 - 03:27 AM (#2413255) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Jim Carroll The 'cuckoo' image is often used as a 'floater'; an often unrelated verse which is tacked on to a song (Bee's version, which is similar to Clarence Ashley's is virtually made up of 'floaters'. The cuckoo motif is best known in Ireland in association with the song 'Bunclaudy'. IMO the image of 'sucking on small birds eggs to make her voice clear' in 'Nutty's' version is one of the most beautiful to be found in folksong. Jim Carroll |
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14 Aug 08 - 05:04 AM (#2413294) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: DG&D Dave At the risk of lowering the tone, there is even a bawdy version in the English 'Book of Rugby Songs': Oh the cuckoo she's a strange bird, She sits on the grass With her wings neatly folded and her beak up her A*** Whilst in this position she murmers "twit-twit" 'cos it's hard to say cuckoo with a beak full of S***! Dave. |
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14 Aug 08 - 07:42 AM (#2413348) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: The Sandman I have recorded an English version.,which I think was collected in Dorset. Peter Kennedy has collected an English version,The tune is in the major key and slower than the American version. http://www.dickmiles.com |
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14 Aug 08 - 03:52 PM (#2413935) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Steve Gardham Joe, In the 17thc version your stanza runs thus:- Tho' I am forsaken, yet she is forsworn, Yet she is mistaken if she think that I'll mourn, I'll set as slightly by her as e'er she did me, And for ever will deny her, let her go, farewel she. This may throw some light on your interpretation, though it is quite likely there were even earlier versions. Note the last line which eventually evolved into a separate lament. Steve |
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15 Aug 08 - 04:25 AM (#2414343) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: GUEST,Redlick. There is a lovely English version of "The Cuckoo" sung by Bob Lewis of Sussex on the Veteran CD "Stepping it Out!" (VTC1CD). |
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15 Aug 08 - 04:55 AM (#2414356) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Nigel Parsons Reading the verse above: "Tho' I am forsaken, yet she is forsworn, Yet she is mistaken if she think that I'll mourn, I'll set as slightly by her as e'er she did me, And for ever will deny her, let her go, farewel she." Had me reaching for my dictionary to check the relationship between 'cuckoo' & 'cockold'. Collin's states the latter is derived from the French for cuckoo. Also brought to mind was: The elephant is a curious bird. It flits from bough to bough. It makes its nest in rhubarb trees And whistles like a cow. Cheers Nigel |
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15 Aug 08 - 10:41 AM (#2414594) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Steve Gardham Nigel. Spot on. Obviously it derives from the cuckoo's propensity to lay its eggs in other birds' nests, although this of course is the female cuckoo, not the male. Folklore often gets its males and females mixed up. |
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15 Aug 08 - 09:41 PM (#2415139) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Joe_F Echoing the last line of the old stanza is that of the lovely "Dewdrop" (like the recent versions of "The Cuckoo", it too is about a lady keeping a stiff upper lip), as sung by Margaret MacArthur of blessed memory: Take half a pound of reason and quarter pound of sense, A small sprig of thyme and so much impudence. Stir 'em all together and then you'll plainly see He's a false deceiving lover, let him go, farewell he. (The grammar of that makes we wonder why we say "Fare thee well". One would expect "Fare thou well"; cf. "Go thou and do likewise".) |
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17 Aug 08 - 06:40 PM (#2416355) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Snuffy "Fare thee well" is a contraction of "May it fare well to thee" |
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18 Aug 08 - 08:55 AM (#2416735) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: GUEST,BanjoRay Clarence Ashley's superb version on Youtube here. Ray |
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29 Aug 08 - 08:54 AM (#2425334) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: GUEST,Jean Anyone familiar with a verse that says enigmatically "I never give her water till (or on) the first day of July" |
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29 Aug 08 - 02:49 PM (#2425709) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Q (Frank Staplin) Some versions in the DT, and several short threads. Enter -cuckoo- in Search. |
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21 Dec 10 - 11:11 PM (#3059062) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: GUEST So i know this is like two years later but i heard a different version of this song that i can't seem to find any where but on this one kids rthyme c.d. it goes: The cuckoo she's pretty She sings as she flys She brings us good tidings She tells us no lies She sucks on white flowers As to keep her vioce clear and the more she sings Cuckoo The summer draws near |
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22 Dec 10 - 11:40 AM (#3059364) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: MissouriMud Not being particularly bird knowledgeable and not living in an area that seems to have many cuckoos (outside of clocks) - what is the connection between Cuckoos and July? Is it just the normal matter of birds returning in the Spring and thus being a harbinger of the coming summer or is there something more unique to the cuckoo. The line "She never says 'cuckoo' til the 4th day of July " in the version I know best always seemed a bit puzzling if cuckoos normally show up in the spring when most other birds do. Do cuckoos not show up until later? Do cuckoos that come earlier say something different before July? The line "And when she sings 'Cuckoo' the summer is near" in other versions would suggest that cuckoos can and do show up with their usual call in spring - but perhaps different cuckoos do different things in different places? |
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22 Dec 10 - 01:32 PM (#3059437) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: The Sandman Cuckoos sing in april and may and july fly away the english version is more accuratehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGoYfU2-A54 |
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22 Dec 10 - 01:34 PM (#3059439) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: The Sandman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGoYfU2-A54 |
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22 Dec 10 - 01:40 PM (#3059444) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: Don Firth OH—! I'm sorry! I thought this was a political thread. . . . Don Firth |
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22 Dec 10 - 02:39 PM (#3059492) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: MissouriMud Ahh. Perhaps the "4th day of July" version comes from wherever it is that cuckoos go in July. |
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22 Dec 10 - 08:33 PM (#3059701) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: GUEST,Hilary In Folk Songs of North America, Alan Lomax offers a fascinating discussion of two versions of "The Cuckoo." According to him it is a symbol of adultery. |
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22 Dec 10 - 10:28 PM (#3059745) Subject: RE: The Cuckoo Bird question From: ChanteyLass Deana Carter does a version of this song on the CD based on songs from (wait for it) Songcatcher. It is not a cast recording. I've also heard a version sung by a chantey singers at Mystic Seaport, not as a chantey but as a song from the shore. |