Cuckoo's Nest (II), The

DESCRIPTION: Lyric song in praise of the female "cuckoo's nest." Behind a thorn bush a man and woman are busy "hairing at the cuckoo's nest," which " isn't easy found"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (see NOTES)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Lyric song in praise of the female "cuckoo's nest." Behind a thorn bush a man and woman are busy "hairing at the cuckoo's nest." "It is thorned, it is sprinkled, it is compassed all around/It is thorned, it is sprinkled, and it isn't easy found"; Chorus: "Hi the cuckin', ho the cuckin', hi the cuckoo's nest...I'll gie onybody a a shilling and a bottle o' the best/If they'll ramble up the feathers o' the cuckoo's nest"
KEYWORDS: sex dancetune lyric nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England, Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #49, pp. 203-204, "The Thorn Bush (The Cuckoo's Nest)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong, p. 202, "Some for the Girl" (1 short text, 1 tune)
DT, CUKOO3
Roud #1506
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cuckoo's Nest (I)" (subject, tune)
cf. "The Magpie's Nest" (tune)
NOTES [204 words]: Three songs (two erotic) share this tune, which is also a common fiddle tune. "Cuckoo's Nest (I)" and "Cuckoo's Nest (II)" overlap some, but as one is always a ballad while the other is really a lyric song, I've split them. (They're most easily distinguished by the chorus; in (I) the man expresses his preferences in women, in (II) he doesn't.) Better check out both, though -- and "The Magpie's Nest." - PJS
Kennedy cites the text in Ford, "The Bonnie Brier Bush," as an offshoot of this. Offshoot it may be, but it's not the same song, and Ford indicates no tune. Kennedy is overreaching. Again. - RBW
Porter and Gower note the hornpipe tune is quite popular. Also they cite the fact that Burns and others tried to rework the lyrics to lessen the erotic symbolism (p. 204). The earliest attempt they list is from 1796, so this song must be at least that old. - DGE
The Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong "Some for the Girl" text is sufficiently distinct from others of this type that I thought about splitting it off. But this Roud number has already been split many ways in the Ballad Index, and some of the differences may be the fact that Jennie Devlin perhaps cleaned things up, so I'm filing it here. With doubts. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RcTCN02

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