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Cuckoo
Traditional Old-Time, Song Tune- widely circulated both in US and internationally.
ARTIST: North Carolina musician Hobart Smith- Folk-Legacy Records FSA-17, Hobart Smith - "America's Greatest Folk Instrumentalist."
Solo Fingerstyle Arrangement by Richard Matteson Key Em- TAB:
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: 1800’s;
RECORDING INFO: Folk Legacy FSA-17, Hobart Smith - "America's Greatest Folk Instrumentalist" (appears as "Cuckoo Bird"). Folkways FA 2953, Clarence (Tom) Ashley - "Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 3" (1952). Marimac 9000, Dan Gellert & Shoofly - "Forked Deer" (1986. Version from Hobart Smith). Kelly Harrell, "The Cuckoo She's a Fine Bird" (Victor V-40047, 1926; on KHarrell02); Clarence "Tom" Ashley, "The Coo Coo Bird" (Columbia 15489D, 1929; on AAFM3); Mr. & Mrs. John Sams, "The Coo-Coo" (on MMOKCD); Anne Briggs, "The Cuckoo" (on Briggs2, Briggs3); New Lost City Ramblers, "The Coo Coo Bird" (on NLCR04, NLCR11); Pete Steele, "The Cuckoo" (on PSteele01); Allen-Ward Trio. Allen-Ward Trio, Vanguard VRS 9189, LP (1965), cut#B.06 (Cuckoo); Armstrong Family. Wheel of the Year. Thirty Years with the Armstrong Family, Flying Fish FF 70594, CD (1992), cut# 9; Armstrong, Frankie. Out of Love, Hope and Suffering, Bay 206, LP (1973), cut# 11; Ashley, Clarence (Thomas/Tom)). Anthology of American Folk Music, Smithsonian/Folkways SFW 40090, CD( (1997), cut# 57; Ashley, Clarence (Thomas/Tom)). Folk Box, Elektra EKL-9001, LP (1964), cut# 44 ; Ashley, Clarence (Thomas/Tom)). Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Part 2, Folkways FA 2359, LP (1963), cut# 9; Ashley, Clarence (Thomas/Tom)). Folk Go-Go, Verve/Folkways FV 9011, LP (197?), cut# 5; Barrett, Ruth; and Cyntia Smith. Music of the Rolling World, Aeolus Am 002, LP (1982), cut#B.05; Brown, Fleming. Fleming Brown, Folk Legacy FSI-004, LP (1962), cut# 9 (Cuckoo [She's a Fine (Pretty) Bird]); Carol, Bonnie. Fingerdances for Dulcimer, Carol, CD (1980/2000), cut# 4 (Cuckoo); Darling, Erik. True Religion, Vanguard VRS 9099, LP (196?), cut# 8; Elliot, Ramblin' Jack. Hard Travelin': Songs by Woody Guthrie and Others, Fantasy F 24720, LP (1977), cut# 18; Everly Brothers. Silver Meteor; A Progressive Country Anthology, Sierra/Briar SRS-8706, LP (1980), cut# 8; Feldmann, Peter. How to Play Clawhammer Banjo, Sonyatone STI-104, LP (1975), cut# 5; Fitzgerald, Florence. Eighty English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 61b (Cuckoo); Gellert, Dan; and Shoofly. Forked Deer, Marimac 9000, Cas (1986), cut#A.03; Hester, Carolyn. This Life I'm Living, Columbia CL-2032, LP (1963), cut#B.03; Hickory Wind. At the Wednesday Night Waltz, Adelphi AD 2002, LP (1974), cut# 3; Holt, David. Reel and Rock, Flying Fish FF 372, LP (1985), cut#A.04; Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Prestige PR 7720, LP (1964), cut# 3; Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Fantasy 24711, LP (1972), cut#3.03; Kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscope, Epic BN 62467, LP (197?), cut# 2 (Cuckoo); Kasey, Rufus. Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian SF 40079, CD (1998), cut#30; Killen, Lou and Sally. Bright Shining Morning, Front Hall FHR 006, LP (1975), cut#B.03; Kweskin, Jim. Relax Your Mind, Vanguard VSD-79188, LP (1965), cut#A.04 (Cuckoo); March, Bob. Chicago Mob Scene. A Folk Song Jam Session, Riverside RLP 12-641, LP (196?), cut# 7 (Cuckoo); Mayhan, Judy. Folk Songs of Old Eire, Tradition TR 2075, LP (196?), cut# 10 (Cuckoo); Nelson, Mark. Southern Light, Flying Fish FF-405, LP (1986), cut# 2; New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Disc D 102, LP (196?), cut# 7; New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 4, Folkways FA 2399, LP (1962), cut# 5; Osborne Brothers. Voices in Bluegrass, Decca DL 74602, LP (196?), cut#B.01 (Cuckoo Bird); Paley, Tom. Old Tom Moore and More, Global Village C 309, Cas (1991), cut# 23; Pentangle. Basket of Light, Reprise 8004, LP (197?), cut# 8 (Cuckoo); Peter, Paul & Mary. Song Will Rise, Warner Bros WS 1589, LP (1965), cut#B.03 (Cuckoo); Ritchie, Edna. Edna Ritchie, Viper Kentucky, Folk Legacy FSA-003, LP (1962), cut#B.01; Ritchie, Jean. High Hills & Mountains, Greenhays GR 701, LP (1979), cut# 3; Ritchie, Jean. O Love Is Teasin', Elektra BLP-12051, LP (1985), cut#2.07; Ritchie, Jean. Singing Family of the Cumberlands, Riverside RLP 12-653, LP (1957), cut#B.04d (Cuckoo); Ritchie, Jean; & Sons. Mountain Born, Greenhays 70725, CD (1995), cut# 4 (Cuckoo); Roberts, Dink. Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian SF 40079, CD (1998), cut# 2; Rush, Tom. Tom Rush, Elektra EKS-7288, LP (196?), cut# 5; Sams, John. Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#2.50; Schilling, Jean. Old Traditions, Traditional JS-5117, LP (196?), cut#B.04 (Cuckoo Bird); Sellers, Maxine. Folk Songs, Prestige Folklore 14032, LP (1964), cut#A.03; Shade, Al; and Jean Romaine. More Yodeling, Aljen AJ 101, LP (197?), cut#A.04 (Cuckoo Bird); Smith, Hobart. Hobart Smith, Folk Legacy FSA-017, LP (1964), cut# 15 (Cuckoo Bird); Smith, Hobart. Traditional Music at Newport, 1964, Part 1, Vanguard VSD 79182, LP (1965), cut# 1; Snipes, John. Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia, Smithsonian SF 40079, CD (1998), cut# 1; Steele, Pete. Banjo Tunes and Songs, Folkways FS 3828, LP (1958), cut# 9 (Cuckoo); Tawney, Cyril. Cyril Tawney Sings Children's Songs from Devon and Cornwall, Argo ZBF 4, LP (1969), cut#B.06 (Cuckoo); Trivett, Joseph Able (Abe). Joseph Able Trivett, Folk Legacy FSA-002, LP (1962), cut# 5 (Go Away From Me Young Man); Tutty, Paddy. In the Greenwood, Prairie Druid PA 04, CD (1998), cut#13 (Cuckoo); Watson, Doc and Merle. Ballads from Deep Gap, Vanguard VSD 6576, LP (1971), cut# 5 (Cuckoo);
OTHER NAMES: "Cuckoo Bird;" "Coo Coo;” "Coo Coo Bird;" "A-Walking and A-Talking," "The Unconstant Lover” (Frank Brown); "The Fourth Day of July" “Dove;” “Pretty Girl Is Like a Little Bird;” “Variations on the Coocoo;” “I'm Sad and I'm Lonesome/Lonely;” “Wobble Bird.”
RELATES TO: “Pretty Saro”( lyrics); "The Wagoner's Lad" (lyrics); "Sumer Is I-cumen In"; "If I Were a Fisher" (floating verses); “Old Kimball;” ”Walking Boss;” “Jack O’ Diamonds;” “Rye Whiskey.”
SOURCES: Randolph 49, "The Cuckoo;" FSCatskills 34, "A-Walking and A-Talking" Sharp-100E 35, "The Cuckoo;" Sharp/Karpeles-80E 38, "The Cuckoo" SHenry H479, pp. 347-348, "The Cuckoo" Kennedy 148, "The Cuckoo" MacSeegTrav 57, "The Cuckoo;" Lomax-FSNA 110, "The Cuckoo"; 111, "The Fourth Day of July;” Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 255-256, "[The Cuckoo She's a Pretty Bird];" Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 79 "The Coo Coo Bird;" Silber-FSWB, p. 164, "The Cuckoo" Anthology of American Folk Music, Oak, Sof (1973), p 78; Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p 44b (Cuckoo); Here's to the Women, Syracuse Univ. Press, Sof (1987), p 4; Here's to the Women, Syracuse Univ. Press, Sof (1987), Pg 5; Jones, Blanche (Preston). Singin' Gatherin', Silver Burdette, Bk (1939), p25 (Cucoo She's a Pretty Bird); New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p 46; Ritchie, Jean. Singing Family of the Cumberlands, Oak, Bk (1955), p.255.
NOTES: "Learned (as were many of his tunes) by North Carolina musician fiddler Hobart Smith from John Greer, a neighbor. The piece is known as a banjo song and employs a special tuning ("sawmill tuning") of the instrument." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
The “Cuckoo” or “Coo Coo” ballad is most commonly associated with the Appalachian mountain region (Cecil Sharp was one of the first to find many versions there in the early 1900’s). A typical ballad found today is in ¾ time in a minor key and has the lyrics, “The Cuckoo's a pretty bird, she sings as she flies/She brings us glad tidings and tells us no lies.” The lyrics in the US have been transformed from English/Irish versions to include the “Jack O’ Diamonds” line most closely associated with “Rye Whiskey” or the fiddle version “Drunken Hiccups” and the “she never hollers ‘til the 4th of July” line (Clarence ‘Tom’ Ashley).
BUNCLODY ORIGIN: One direct line to the Cuckoo ballad is the Irish ballad- Bunclody (Streams of Bunclody/ Maid of Bunclody/ Bunclody). Soodlum's 100 Irish Ballads Volume 1 tell us, "Bunclody (meaning the bottom of the Clody) is located at the foot of Mount Leinster, County Wexford. It is the meeting place of the Clody and Slaney Rivers." Bunclody has the “The cuckoo is a pretty good bird, it sings as it flies/It brings us good tidings, and tells us no lies,” lyric which is standard as one of the verses (See “Cuckoo- Version 3-5). Both Appalachian standards, “Pretty Saro” and “Cuckoo,” are direct descendants of this ballad. Dorothy Scarborough (A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains, American Folk Songs of British Ancestry), who collected a version of “Pretty Saro” in North Carolina in 1930, notes that her source said the appropriate date might be 1749, as that was a time of significant immigration from Scotland and Ireland, where the tune was probably from. She also says the term "freeholder" would indicate a British origin. "Bunclody" has been recorded by: Robin Williamson on "A Job of Journey Work" and Philip Coulter on "Forgotten Dreams." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
BONNY CUCKOO ORIGIN: “The Bonny Cuckoo” (An chuaichin mhaiseach), an Irish air in3/4 or 6/8 time, appears to be the original source for the “Bunclody” songs and another direct line to the “Cuckoo” songs found in Ireland, Scotland and England which were brought to the US in the late 1700’s. The great Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan was supposed to have taken his song "Si Bheag, Si Mohr" from this air. According to the index of his 1840 collection, the Irish collector Edward Bunting noted the tune from "Ballinascreen (Co. Derry) and from the late H(enry) Joy (one of the founders of the United Irishmen) Esq. Belfast, 1793." It can be found in Mulholland (Ancient Irish Airs), 1810; pg. 59. Neale (Celebrated Irish Tunes), c. 1726; pg. 14. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 125, pg. 181.(Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). Lyrics to “The Bonny Cuckoo”: My bonny cuckoo, I tell you true/That through the groves I'll rove with you/I'll rove with you until the spring// And then my cuckoo shall sweetly sing/Cuckoo, sing girls, let no one tell/Until I settle my seasons well.
“Cuckoo’s a Bonny Bird” is an English variant found in the US with the ‘Bonny” title. See Cuckoo- Version 6.
BIRD NOTES: “There ain’t no coo coo’s ‘round here!” Six members of the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, are known to nest in the USA but the only two commonly associated species (the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the Black-billed Cuckoo) are not usually found in the Appalachian region. There are about 125 species world-wide, most of them tropical. Some of the European cuckoo species are nest parasites that lay their eggs in other birds nests and have the young raised by foster parents. The US ones all build their own nests. Yellow-billed Cuckoo - this is the most widespread, found from British Columbia to Maine and south into Mexico and also the West Indies. Black-billed Cuckoo - this is an eastern species found from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico but east of the Rocky Mountains. Mangrove Cuckoo – found in the mangrove thickets of coastal southern Florida and the Florida Keys. Smooth-billed Ani – found in the southern Florida brush and farmland habitats. Groove-billed Ani - Southern Texas possibly east to Louisiana. Roadrunner - Arid regions of southwestern USA and south into Mexico. Mountain folk may sing about the cuckoo but “There ain’t no coo coo’s ‘round here!”
FINAL NOTES: Only one thing is certain- the cuckoo is a pretty bird and she tells no lies. From country (Deana Carter) to folk (Peter, Paul and Mary) to rock (Janis Joplin) this bird keeps a-flyin’.
Common identifying lyrics:
The Cuckoo's a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She brings us glad tidings and tells us no lies.
From: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 44
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