From Out the Battered Elm Tree

DESCRIPTION: Round, adapted from a Dutch original. "From out the battered elm tree The owl cries out I’m here, And from the distant forest The cuckoo answers clear,
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (SongsOfManyNations)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad derivative campsong floatingverses
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 443, "From Out the Battered Elm Tree" (notes only)
SongsOfManyNations, "De uil in de olmen / The Owl in the Elms" (1 England and 1 Dutch text, 1 tune) (12th edition, p. 40)
NOTES [58 words]: Averill describes this as a translated Dutch song adapted as a round. The verse also show in some versions of two other rounds: " The Cuckoo (II) (Camp Song)" and a variant form of "Mister Moon (Kindly Come Out and Shine)."
Averill's text is not particularly close to that in SongsOfManyNations; it looks to me as if the song was translated twice. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: ACSF443

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography