Cuckoo, The

DESCRIPTION: "The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies; she brings us glad tidings, and she tells us no lies." Many versions are women's complaints about men's false hearts (usually similar to "The Wagoner's Lad/Old Smokey")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1769 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad lament lyric floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (47 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "CUCKOO, THE"
Randolph 49, "The Cuckoo" (4 texts, of which "A" is about half "Inconstant Lover/Old Smokey" verses and "B" never mentions the cuckoo and appears to be mostly floating verses; 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 117-118, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 49A)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 45, "Lovely Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 473-476, "The Unconstant Lover" (3 texts, 1 tune, of which the first is "Old Smokey"; the second mixes that with "The Cuckoo," and the third is short enough that it might be something else)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 248, "The Inconstant Lover" (5 texts plus a fragment, admitted by the editors to be distinct songs but with many floating items; "A," "B," and "C" are more "On Top of Old Smokey" than anything else, though without that phrase; "D" is primarily "The Broken Engagement (II -- We Have Met and We Have Parted)," "E" is a mix of "Old Smokey" and "The Cuckoo," and the "F" fragment may also be "Old Smokey")
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #195, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, very mixed, containing fragments of at least three songs, "On Top of Old Smokey" being the largest element, plus "The Cuckoo" and something that begins "Johnny on the water")
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 95, pp. 147-149, "Sweet Willie" (1 text, 1 tune, with verses from "The Cuckoo" but also much material from "On Top of Old Smokey" or something similar plus one of "Farewell He" type)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, pp. 66-67, "Cuckoo Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 88, "The Cuckoo" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 313-314, "The Cuckoo" (1 short text, with local title "Too Wandering True Loves"; the piece, which begins "A-walking and a-talking and a-courting goes I," never mentions a cuckoo and consists mostly of floating material similar to Randolph's; it could well be an "Inconstant Lover" type but is too short to classify; placed here because Scarborough does)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 99-101, "The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton-TennesseeTraditionalSingers, p. 13, "The Coo-Coo Bird (The Cuckoo Bird)" (1 text, 1 tune, the Tom Ashley version, mostly of floating verses)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 42, "Forsaken" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 34, "A-Walking and A-Talking" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 142-144, "The Cuckoo" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 85, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 140, "The Cuckoo" (13 texts, 13 tunes)
Sharp-OneHundredEnglishFolksongs 35, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 38, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 42, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, p. 153, "Cuckoo" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Thomas/Leeder-SinginGatherin, p.n25, "The Cuckoo She's a Pretty Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wells-TheBalladTree, p. 274, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, pp. 101-102, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, with at least two verses that are "On Top of Old Smokey," two that might be from any of several abandonment songs, and a final verse that is "The Cuckoo")
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 23A, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, a composite of two texts)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 25, "The Cuckoo" (4 texts)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, p. 165, "The Cuckoo" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 396)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Gl 127, "Cuckoo" (1 text)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #78, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune, of four verses, all of which can float; one might be "Oh, No, Not I"; the second is clearly "The Cuckoo"; the third is perhaps from "On Top of Old Smokey"; the fourth is uncertain)
Greig/Duncan6 1157, "The Cuckoo" (5 texts plus a fragment on p. 559, 3 tunes)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H479, pp. 347-348, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 148, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 57, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 110, "The Cuckoo"; 111, "The Fourth Day of July" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ritchie-SingingFamilyOfTheCumberlands, pp. 255-256, "[The Cuckoo She's a Pretty Bird]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 121, "The cuckoo is a merry bird" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #475, p. 210, "(The cuckoo is a bonny bird)"
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 18, "(The cuckoo's a bonnie bird)" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, p. 163, "[Cuathiciag Ghorm]" (1 short text, purporting to be a translation of a Gaelic text of "The Cuckoo")
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, p. 69, (no title) (1 fragment, the single floating stanza "I'll build me a cabin On the mountain so high" that is perhaps most typical of this song)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 79 "The Coo Coo Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 164, "The Cuckoo" (1 text)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 9, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT CUKOO2 CUCKBIRD* CUCKBIR2*
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 193-194, "The Cuckoo"
Maud Karpeles, _Folk Songs of Europe_, Oak, 1956, 1964, p. 44, "The Cuckoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #413
RECORDINGS:
Clarence "Tom" Ashley, "The Coo Coo Bird" (Columbia 15489-D, 1929; on AAFM3, Ashley04)
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, "The Coo-Coo Bird" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Charlie Black, "The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird" (AAFS 1389 B1)
Anne Briggs, "The Cuckoo" (on Briggs2, Briggs3, Briggs4)
Mrs. Joseph Gaines, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 832 A1)
Gant Family, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 72 B1)
Maggie Gant, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 66 A2)
Kelly Harrell, "The Cuckoo She's a Fine Bird" (Victor V-40047, 1926; on KHarrell02)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 823 B1/B2, 1935)
Mrs. C. S. MacClellan, "The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird" (AAFS 986 B2)
Jonathan Moses, "Cuckoo is a Fine Bird" (AAFS 3705 A2)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Coo Coo Bird" (on NLCR04, NLCR11)
Lize Pace, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 1437 A1)
Charlie Phillips, "The Cuckoo" (on FSBFTX15)
Dink Roberts, "Coo Coo" (on ClassBanj)
Mr. & Mrs. John Sams, "The Coo-Coo" (on MMOKCD)
John Selleck, "The Cuckoo" (AAFS 4219 A2)
Vivian Skinner, "Cuckoo is a May Bird" (AAFS 2997 A2)
Pete Steele, "The Cuckoo" (on PSteele01)
John Williams, "Cuckoo Song" (AAFS 4182 A2/B)
Guy Wolff, "The Coo Coo" (Piotr-Archive #424, recorded 01/08/2023)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(211), "The Cuckoo" ("Come all you pretty fair maids, wherever you be"), J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 11(762), Harding B 15(77a), Harding B 11(1231), "The Cuckoo"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (lyrics)
cf. "Sumer Is I-cumen In"
cf. "If I Were a Fisher" (floating verses)
cf. "The Streams of Bunclody" (floating verses)
SAME TUNE:
The Dove (by Ewan MacColl; Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 260-261)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
To a Meeting One Evening, to a Meeting Went I
NOTES [475 words]: Legends about the cuckoo bringing in summer (and infidelity) are common and early.
The cuckoo loves warmth, and so arrives late during migration; it is thus held to signal summer (see Briggs, volume A.2, p. 51, the story of "The Cuckoo-Penners": "'cos when the cuckoo do come, they begins to think about putting in the 'arvest." (These days, it may seem silly to time these things by bird migration, but recall that the calendar was off before the Gregorian Calendar was adoped.)
According to Binney, p. 182, to hear one's first cuckoo on April 28 was a sign of money coming one's way.
Certain species of cuckoo also lay their eggs in other birds' nests (whence probably the word "cuckold"), hence their association with lustiness.
The legend is ancient; Alcuin (died c. 804) wrote a piece, "Opto meus veniat cuculus, carrisimus ales," in which spring begs for the cuckoo to come. And Alcuin was English. But he worked in Charlemagne's France, and wrote in Latin, so we cannot prove that the idea was that old in England. But we do have the very old English song "Sumer Is I-cumen In"; showing that the cuckoo legend had made it to England by then; see the entry on that piece for more details on the dating.
Outside England, we find a number of other songs on the theme: Maud Karpeles, Folk Songs of Europe, Oak, 1956, 1964, p. 115, prints "L'inverno e passato," "Oh past and gone is winter, And March and April too, And May is here to greet us And songs of the cuckoo.... May's the month for lovers And songs of the cuckoo" (Italian, from Switzerland), as well as "Kukuvaca," "Cuckoo, cuckoo, sings the cuckoo," in which a girl asks a mower, "Have you cut the grass for me?" (p. 217, from Croatia).
The idea of the cuckoo being used as a calendar is found in areas as remote as China. Eberhard, p. 77, says that "The peasants in the province of Sichuan pay a lot of attention tothe cuckoo, which helps them to pick the right day for starting various jobs on the farm. The local dialect has several expressions for the bird, like 'reap the wheat,' 'forcing us to plough,' 'watching the silkworms' or 'watching the fire.'"
Briggs, volume A.2, p. 3, notes in addition that Britain has a large class of "noodle tales" in which some group of people try to "wall in the cuckoo" to keep it from laying its eggs in other nests. These naturally end in failure. A typical example is "The Borrowdale Cuckoo" (Briggs, volume A.2, pp. 25-26), in which the residents keep building a wall just higher than the highest point to which the cuckoo most recently flew, and the cuckoo simply flies a little higher the next time.
Simpson, p. 114, has a single stanza with line, "She picks up the dirt in the spring of the year." Simpson explains, "Since cuckoos arrive when the land is drying out after the winter rains, it was said that they cleared the mud away." - RBW
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