Ah, Poor Bird

DESCRIPTION: Round. "Ah, poor bird, Take thy flight, High above the sorrows Of this dark night."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 412, "Ah, Poor Bird" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 442, 450, 451, 452, "Ah, Poor Bird" (notes only)
cf. SongsOfAllTime, p. 17, "Thou Poor Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Judy Cook, Dennis Cook, "Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose/Ah, Poor Bird" (Piotr-Archive #602, recorded 06/08/2023; medley of "Rose, Rose " and "Ah, Poor Bird," with the first sung to the tune of the "Souling Song")
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Aw, Poor Bird
NOTES [82 words]: The song "You Poor Bird" in SongsOfAllTime runs "Thou poor bird, Mourn't the tree, Where sweetly thou didst warble In thy wand'rng free." No source is listed -- very unusual in this part of the book.
Obviously it has nothing in common with the text of "Ah, Poor Bird" cited in the description. But both are rounds, of the same length, about "poor birds." I suspect the SongsOfAllTime text is a flowery rewrite of "Ah, Poor Bird," and so am mentioning it here. I am not certain, of course. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ACSF442P

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