> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > The Cuckoo
> Shirley Collins > Songs > The Cuckoo
> Anne Briggs > Songs > The Cuckoo
> Eliza Carthy > Songs > The Coo Coo Bird

The Cuckoo / The Coo Coo Bird

[ Roud 413 ; Master title: The Cuckoo ; G/D 6:1157 ; Henry H479 ; Ballad Index R049 ; VWML HAM/3/18/15 , RoudFS/S141818 ; GlosTrad Roud 413 ; Wiltshire 95 , 764 ; Folkinfo 184 ; DT CUCKBIRD , CUKOO2 ; Mudcat 113486 ; trad.]

Katherine Campbell: Songs From North-East Scotland Nick Dow: Southern Songster Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann, John Moulden: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs The Crystal Spring Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger: Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs Frank Purslow: The Wanton Seed James Reeves: The Idiom of the People The Everlasting Circle Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs Alfred Williams: Folk Songs of the Upper Thames,

Clarence ‘Tom’ Ashley recorded The Coo Coo Bird in 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee; it was published on Columbia 15489D. This recording was included in 1952 on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music on the Folkways label and in 2015 on the Nehi anthology of British songs in the USA, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Greil Marcus describes it as a “folk-lyric” tune “made up of verbal fragments that had no direct or logical relationship to each other”.

Jean Ritchie sang two versions of The Cuckoo in 1952 on her Elektra album Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Traditional Kentucky Mountain Family. Edward Tatnall Canby noted:

This extremely beautiful melody is the Ritchie family version of a song that exists in dozens of variants—Jean Ritchie recorded four in a row with hardly a second thought. This comes from Hindman, Kentucky, where Mr Balis Ritchie was raised. Sharp gives a subtly different version collected in 1916 in the same region.

Another version, to an altogether different melody. The cuckoo, of course, flies in England but not in the Appalachians.

And Jean Ritchie wrote in her 1965 book Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians:

My family had always known this song, it seems. It is fairly similar to the variants found in and around Hindman in Knott County, where my father’s folks lived. It is one of the saddest and loveliest songs I know.

Mrs J (Florence) Puckett from Afton, Albermarle & Nelson Counties, Virginia sang The Cuckoo on 3 August 1955. This recording was included in 2017 on the Musical Traditions anthology of historic recordings of Appalachian singers and musicians 1927-1955, When Cecil Left the Mountains. Mike Yates and Rod Stradling noted:

Virtually all singers of this song ignore the fact that it is the male cuckoo who sings—the female is mute.

Singer Caroline Hughes called this “the oldest song in the world” when, actually, it is a piece comprised of so-called ‘floating verses’, rather than being a song in its own right. It was printed on a handful of late 18^th/early 19^th century broadsides, but became highly popular in North America. Perhaps the line “He never sings ‘cuckoo’ ’til the fourth day of July” (i.e. American Independence Day) may have something to do with that, though. Some listeners may note a similarity between this version and with verses found in the American song On Top of Old Smokey (Roud 414).

A.L. Lloyd sang The Cuckoo in 1956 on his album The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs. He noted:

Spring cannot start till the cuckoo sings. Perhaps that is why the cuckoo is a magical a bird. Turn your money when you hear him first and you’ll have money in your pocket until he comes again. Whatever you’re doing when you hear him, you’ll do most often throughout the year. Especially if you’re in bed. No bird is more oracular. It can prophesy how long a man will live and a girl remain a maid. There is no better omen for love than the song of the cuckoo, the beloved bird of folklore. On the other hand, he is the sly creature who gave us the word ‘cuckold’. The flattering invocation to the cuckoo in this widespread song is perhaps in the nature of a magical safeguard for the worried lover.

Shirley Collins learnt The Cuckoo from her great grandmother. She sang it in 1959 on her first LP Sweet England. This track was also included in her anthology Within Sound.

Doc Watson sang The Cuckoo Bird in a recording made in 1960-65 or in 1976 that was included in 1990 on the CD reissue of the 1963 Folkways album The Watson Family. Jeff Place noted:

Doc learned the verses of this song from Tom Ashley who recorded the song in 1929. It was a song Doc learned during the folk revival. The song itself comes from England and has many different variants in the United States. It is said the cuckoo bird represents the coming of Spring.

Queen Caroline Hughes sang The Cuckoo to Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker in 1963 or 1966. This recording was included in 2014 on her Musical Traditions anthology Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. She also sang The Cuckoo to Peter Kennedy in her caravan near Blandford, Dorset, on 19 April 1968. This recording was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology of classic recordings of songs by Southern English Gypsy traditional singers, I’m a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Volume 22). Rod Stradling noted on the first anthology:

This is an extremely popular song, with 272 entries in Roud—more than half of which are from North America—and it’s rare in Scotland and Ireland. In fact, it’s really just a collection of ‘floating verses’ which combine to form any number of songs. This tendency is so pronounced that Roud has two numbers for it—413 for the Cuckoo variant, and 414 for the On Top of Old Smokey variant (which shows a further 235 entries, all from North America).

Hobart Smith sang Cuckoo Bird on his eponymous 1964 Folk-Legacy album Hobart Smith of Saltville, Virginia which was also released in 1969 in the UK on Topic as The Old Timey Rap. George Armstrong and Fleming Brown noted:

Songs of the cuckoo are common in European folklore, the cuckoo being considered a harbinger of Spring and, hence, an omen of hope and renewal. Cuckoo bird songs in the Anglo-American tradition usually revolve around the theme of unrequited love with the verses about the bird corning in as a symbol of renewed hope.

The verses in Hobart’s short version offer some curious poetry which suggests a strong Southern Mountain influence on the older British song. The first verse appears in the song Green Grows the Laurel. The reference to the Fourth of July would appear purely American.

Hobart’s singing and playing of the song (banjo tuning: GDGCD) serves as an example 9f the exciting contrapuntal blending of voice and instrument, an art characteristic of the highest devel-opment of the musical tradition of this region. The banjo serves as far more than accompaniment, becoming an emotional extension of the performer with a statement of its own to make which is equal in importance to the sung verses. After Hobart has finished singing, the banjo takes over completely and progresses subtly into more complex rhythmic and melodic ornamentations on the basic theme.

Hobart states that he learned this piece from John Greer about fifty years ago and he describes it as his own “choice piece”.

Tom Paley and Peggy Seeger sang The Cuckoo in 1964 on their Topic LP Who’s Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? Tom Paley noted:

This song, too, has been taken up by singers in the American “Folk Revival”, some of whom perform it with a guitar. Songs are often affected in melody, tempo and style, by the instruments used to accompany them, and this version of The Cuckoo bears such strong marks of the 5-string banjo and the particular tuning employed (D-G-C-D-G) that I find it difficult to consider any accompaniment other than banjo. The text is a folk-lyric including verses common to several otherwise quite dissimilar songs such as Rye Whiskey, The Roving Gambler and Down the Old Plank Road.

Dave and Toni Arthur recorded The Cuckoo under the assumed name of the Strollers for a Fontana pop-folk single issued in July 1965. This single was included in 2009 on the CD reissue of their Transatlantic LP Morning Stands on Tiptoe.

Pentangle sang The Cuckoo in 1969 on their third Transatlantic album, Basket of Light.

Anne Briggs recorded The Cuckoo in 1971 for her eponymous Topic album Anne Briggs. Like all tracks from this album it was reissued on her two compilations Classic Anne Briggs (Fellside 1990) and A Collection (Topic 1999); this recording was also included in 1972 on the Topic Sampler No 8, English Garland. A.L. Lloyd noted on the original album:

An ambiguous bird, herald of spring and harbinger of cuckoldry, is the hero of this most typical of all English-language lyrical songs. It too is made up of floating verses that zip equally well into a score of other songs. For some reason the song found relatively little favour in Scotland, but it has been one of the commonest of all lyrics in England, Ireland, and upland America. Anne’s set is one of several Irish versions.

Frankie Armstrong sang The Cuckoo, “collected from the fine Gypsy singer Queen Caroline Hughes in the 1960’s”, in 1973 on her LP Out of Love, Hope and Suffering and in 2000 on her Fellside CD The Garden of Love.

Cyril Tawney sang The Cuckoo in 1970 on his Argo album Cyril Tawney Sings Children’s Songs From Devon and Cornwall, and in 1973 on his Argo album of traditional love songs from South West England, I Will Give My Love. He noted:

Given to Baring-Gould by Frank Baer who heard it in South Devon.

Andrew Cronshaw played The Cuckoo in 1974 on his Transatlantic album A Is for Andrew, Z Is for Zither.

Minty Smith sang a medley of one verse each of Are You Married, or Are You Free? (Roud 17037), The Cuckoo Is a Merry Bird and Derby, Derby (Roud 17027) to Mike Yates in Epson, Surrey, in 1974. This recording was included in 2003 on the Musical Traditions anthology of Gypsy songs and music from South-East England, Here’s Luck to a Man …. Rod Stradling noted:

Once a well-known song, athough few English singers seem to know more than this one verse today.

Sally Killen sang The Cuckoo in 1975 on her and Louis Killen’s LP Bright Shining Morning. Louis Killen noted:

Here is another song of “false true love” collected by Sharp in Somerset. Its fine tune and lyrical first verse changed somewhat when it was carried to Southern Appalachia. The bird seems to have become more patriotic:

O the cuckoo, she’s a pretty bird and she sings as she flies,
And she never sings cuckoo till the Fourth day of July!

Hedgehog Pie sang The Cuckoo on their 1978 album Just Act Normal.

Bill Smith from Shropshire sang The Cuckoo in an 1979 recording by his son Andrew Smith on his 2011 Musical Traditions anthology A Country Life. Rod Stradling noted:

Learned at school from English Folk Songs for Schools by Baring-Gould and Sharp. Bill was adamant about the pronunciation of ‘vargrant’, not vagrant.

Walter Pardon sang The Cuckoo in a 1980 recording made by Mike Yates. It was included in 2000 on his posthumous Musical Traditions anthology Put a Bit of Powder on It, Father. Rod Stradling noted:

Another very popular song, and one that remained so ’til very recently—26 of Roud’s 148 references are to sound recordings. It is known all over the English speaking world and has perhaps been more widely collected in the USA than in Britain (though one might say England, since only a handful of Scots and Irish—and no Welsh—examples are known). A famous version was recorded by Clarence Ashley for Columbia Records in 1929, shortly before the Wall Street crash, and also by by Kelly Harrell on Victor 40047. Ashley’s version appears on Harry Smith’s six-CD set Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40090).

Bob Lewis has a very good version of this, from his mother. It’s on his Veteran Tape A Sweet Country Life (VT120). As so often, Walter is the unique East Anglian source, even if it is only two verses.

John Bowden sang The Cuckoo, accompanied by Vic Shepherd on jew’s harp, on their 1982 album A Motty Down. They noted:

This song exists in many versions in Britain and North America. This one consists entirely of floating verses, and we’re not sure where we picked it up.

Bob Lewis sang The Cuckoo, recorded by Mike Yates in 1989 in Patcham, Sussex, on his Veteran Tapes cassette of Sussex family songs, A Sweet Country Life. This track was also included in 1993 on the Veteran anthology of traditional folk music, songs and dances from England, Stepping It Out!.

Sue Harris sang The Cuckoo, accompanied by herself and by John Kirkpatrick, in 1991 on the second Hokey Pokey charity compilation, All Through the Year.

Martin Simpson and Wu Man played the tune of The Coo Coo Bird on their 1995 album Music for the Motherless Child.

Cockersdale sang The Cuckoo, with words quite similar to Anne Briggs’, in 1997 on their Fellside CD Wide Open Skies and in 2001 on the Fellside anthology Voices in Harmony. They noted:

This is one of the songs which we learnt from Sid Kipper’s “Lateral History Programme” for BBC Radio 2. The programme encouraged us to look much more closely at some of the traditional material that we all had in our own repertoires.

Pete Morton sang The Cuckoo in 1998 on his Harbourtown album Trespass, and in 2017 in a new recording on Fellside’s final anthology Destination. He noted on his album:

Listened to a tape of some bloke singing this but he sounded like he didn’t care much and was thinking about something else. Tried to decipher the tune—came to the conclusion there wasn’t one. So I made it up. Hard work this folk song collecting.

Tim Laycock sang The Cuckoo in 1999 on his WildGoose CD Fine Colours. He noted:

From the singing of Charlie Phillips of Symondsbury, Dorset [VWML RoudFS/S141818] . “Cuckoo in April, cuckoo in May, cuckoo in June, and July flies away.”

Aileen Carr sang The Cuckoo in 2000 on her Greentrax album Green Yarrow. She noted:

Lucy Broadwood collected three of these verses as The Americans That Stole My True Love Away from Henry Burstow in Sussex in 1893, while Henry Hammond recorded a variant as The Cuckoo in Dorset in 1906, noting that “a good many folk-songs from Dorset are to be found in …. old Aberdeenshire and Banffshire collections …” (and Gavin Greig and James Duncan indeed found five versions around that time). North American variants such as the very popular On Top of Old Smoky continue to evolve.

Richard Thompson sang The Coo Coo Bird, accompanied by himself on guitar and by Eliza Carthy on fiddle, on 25 April 2001 at the Harry Smith Project concert in UCLA’s Royce Hall, Los Angeles. This recording was finally released in 2006 on The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited.

Sharron Kraus and electronic musician David Muddyman recorded The Cuckoo in 2002-3. The recording was finally released in 2023 on their download album, Birdloom.

Rory Gallagher sang The Cuckoo on his 2003 album of out-takes and lost recordings, Wheels Within Wheels.

Bob Davenport sang The Cuckoo in 2004 on his Topic album The Common Stone. He noted:

The verse, “the heart’s not a plaything” comes from my daughter Katherine’s schoolyard, learnt when she was ten.

Rachael McShane sang The Cuckoo on CrossCurrent’s eponymous 2004 EP CrossCurrent and on their 2005 album Momentum. They noted:

This rendition of the English traditional song The Cuckoo is a compilation of Rachael’s favourite versions of the song. It is accompanied by Dancing on a Holly Leaf, a tune written by Rachael on a winter day.

Coope Boyes & Simpson recorded The Cuckoo in 2005 for their CD Triple Echo: Songs collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth and Percy Grainger. They noted:

Sung by Mr Bill Wix of Billingshurst, Sussex to George Butterworth in summer 1909. Butterworth often returned to Sussex and re-visited people he collected from, but in Mr Wix’s case, he seems only to have been once, when he notated The Lads of Kilkenny, It’s of an Old Miser in London Did Dwell and The Cuckoo—a song found in many versions here and in North America. We don’t, however, have Mr Wix to thank for this beautiful lyric but another resident of Billingshurst. The words to which the tune was sung was of inferior quality, Butterworth complained, and I have substituted these verses which were given to me by Mrs Cranstone. But Mr Wix’s tune came through in the end—in 1912, Butterworth included The Cuckoo in his eleven piano settings of Folk Songs From Sussex.

The cuckoo’s call is a harbinger of Summer in England, but in all the versions of this traditional song it’s linked with melancholy warnings of the fickleness of love.

The Devil’s Interval sang the English The Cuckoo and Jean Ritchie sang the American version The Cuckoo in 2005 on the anthology Song Links 2: A Celebration of English Traditional Songs and Their American Variants, and The Devil’s Interval (Lauren McCormick, Emily Portman, and Jim Causley) did it a year later on their own CD Blood and Honey. Lauren McCormick returned to the song in 2012 on her album On Bluestockings. She noted:

An original English Blues. We were asked to sing The Cuckoo for Martyn Wyndham-Read’s Song Links 2 project, which linked English traditional songs with their American variants. We chose the Dorset traveller Queen Caroline Hughes’ version and have it on her authority that this song is “the oldest song in the world.”

Roger Grimes sang The Cuckoo on the 2005 Musical Traditions anthology of songs sung at the Golden Fleece in Stroud in the early 2000s, Songs From the Golden Fleece. This track was also included in 2020 on the Musical Traditions anthology A Little Box of Delights. Rod Stradling noted:

I just like it. I think it’s a good song and I like the way the cuckoo is referred to as ‘he’ while the subject of the song is female. It appeared in one of the numerous publications of the EFDSS—The Wanton Seed Price 9/6, so it was pre decimalisation.

Kieron Means sang The Cuckoo in 2005 on Far As My Eyes Can See He noted:

From the singing of Clarence Ashley. It tells no story, but it presents a set of impressions, a philosophical statement. It has strange lyrics about a habitual gambler and in the song the cuckoo is used as a symbol of summer and of easy living. Cowboys knew the song as Jack of Diamonds, Woody Guthrie used to sing it as Rye Whisky.

Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton sang The Cuckoo on their 2007 album Summer’s Lonesome Tale. They noted:

This is one of the better-known old-timey traditional songs, and carries great sentiment for us. We took it from an archival recording by Clarence Ashley.

Maddy Prior sang The Cuckoo in 2008 on her Park CD Seven for Old England. She noted:

This is one of those lyrical, pastoral ballads of which I am so fond and it springs from the deep memory.

Elizabeth LaPrelle sang The Cuckoo on her 2011 album Birds’ Advice. She noted:

I heard Doc Watson sing this on the radio. Every version of this song I’ve ever heard has been achingly beautiful; this one is in a ballad style.

Jon Boden sang The Cuckoo with lyrics similar to Anne Briggs’ ones as the 21 January 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day, and Fay Hield sang The Cuckoo in 2012 on her CD with the Hurricane Party, Orfeo. She noted:

The cuckoo is a bird which has attracted a number of folkloric associations. Its call is used as a signal heralding spring, and the number of times it is heard during the season can translate to the number of years until a death of marriage. From the bird’s practice of laying eggs in other’s nests comes the analogy of the cuckolded husband rearing another’s child, and being ‘cuckoo’ remains a common term for craziness. I got this version from Anne Briggs’ extraordinary self-titled, mainly a cappella, album.

Sue Brown and Lorraine Irwing sang The Cuckoo in 2012 on their RootBeat album The 13^th Bedroom. They noted:

This song displays a curious understanding of natural history. It is only now, when cuckoos are in serious decline, that we are at last learning about their migrations. Lorraine’s arrangement was inspired by Cockersdale’s version on their album Wide Open Skies.

Steve Knightley, Leonard Podalek et al sang The Coo Coo Bird on Shrewsbury Folk Festival’s Cecil Sharp Project 2011 album. Leonard Podalek noted:

I first heard this song from the singing and playing of Thomas Clarence Ashley and my hero Doc Watson on an album called Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley‘s on Smithsonian Folkways. It’s a must have for any lover of traditional music. It was a blast to play this duet with Steve.

Matt Gordon and Leonard Podolak sang Coo Coo Bird in 2012 on their RootBeat album Three Thin Dimes. They noted:

Leonard first heard his father Mitch sing this song he learned from a version by Erik Darling, but this version comes from Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson.

James Findlay sang The Cuckoo in 2012 on his Fellside album Another Day Another Story. He noted:

A popular folk song of false love that has travelled far with many versions found across England and North America. I have known this song for as long as I can remember, but when I first heard Tim Laycock’s version with this chorus I fell in love with it. Tim’s version comes from Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland by Peter Kennedy. Peter collected this version from Charley Phillips of Symondsbury, Dorset.

You Are Wolf (Kerry Andrew) sang both My Bonny Cuckoo and The Cuckoo in 2014 on their album Hawk to the Hunting Gone. The latter track was also included on 2014 Leigh Folk Festival’s anthology, Sandbanks Swallows Slatterns & Saints. They noted:

A combination of two traditional English cuckoo songs: the lyrics to My Bonny Cuckoo from the Shirley Collins version, and some lyrics from the oft-recorded The Cuckoo or The Coo-Coo Bird. The cuckoo, with its distinctive appearance and striking nest-usurping behaviour, features heavily in folklore, and is seen as the bringer of spring.

Some of the vocal sounds on the album are inspired by the sounds of a regional word for particular birds, as gleaned from the book All the Birds of the Air by Francesca Greenoak; a cuckoo used to sometimes be called a ‘Welsh ambassador’!

The girls at the beginning were a Norwegian school group that I, along with composers, Larry Goves, Adam Gorb and Björn Eriksson, came upon in the nature reserve of Saltögården in Sweden in 2010. I asked them if I knew any songs, and this is what they sang… as recorded by Björn in the woods, and then expanded with my vocals by Larry.

The FLK sang Cuckoo on their 2015 album Mummers.

The Rheingans Sisters (Rowan and Anna) sang and played Cuckoo on their 2015 album Already Home. This video shows them live at Shakespeare’s, Sheffield, in December 2014:

Rosie Hodgson sang The Cuckoo on her 2016 CD Rise Aurora. She noted:

After deciding there were far too many songs about “inconstant lovers”, Rowan [Piggott] decided to write a few new verses to this beautiful tune. His Grandma worked many years as an ornithologist, so it was a natural choice to feature more avian stories, whether they be Oscar Wilde fables, English nursery rhymes or references to the obscure Piggott tradition of Wren Day in Dingle!

Alex Cumming sang The Cuckoo on his 2017 EP Short Sharp Show. He noted:

This rendition of The Cuckoo is a combination of a few collected versions from the USA and England, most prominently a version collected and published by Maud Karpeles.

Kim Lowings & the Greenwood sang The Cuckoo in 2017 on their CD Wild & Wicked Youth.

June Tabor sang The Cuckoo, “collated, largely from the singing of Queen Caroline Hughes, Dorset gypsy”, on Quercus’ 2017 CD Nightfall.

Quinie sang The Gawk on her 2017 and 2018 cassettes Quinie and Buckie Prins. She noted on the first album:

Words translated into Scots (an attempt) from The Cuckoo in Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, Alfred Williams (1923), a version sung by Elijah Iles, Inglesham, Wiltshire. I am interested that this song has found relatively little favour in Scotland, but it has been one of the commonest of all lyrics in England, Ireland, and upland America. The first version I heard was an Anne Briggs version, on which the tune is based, but I preferred this version from the Williams book was my favourite as its sticks to exploring the Cuckoo for its own intrigue and does not fall into moralising tales of false love!

Lisa Knapp sang The Cuckoo, on her 2018 EP The Summer Draws Near (A Branch of May Chapter Two). She noted:

Printed in Folk Songs of The Upper Thames by Alfred Williams who collected this song from Elijah Iles in Inglesham, Wiltshire. The cuckoo is long heralded as a bringer of spring; with its er unmistakable call and predatory behaviour it has quite a legacy in terms of folklore. I first heard one of my favourite folk singers, Anne Briggs, singing a version of The Cuckoo and have loved these songs ever since.

Sam Lee and Notes Inégales sang The Cuckoo She’s a Merry Bird on their 2018 album Van Diemen’s Land.

Mishaped Pearls sang The Cuckoo on their 2018 album Shivelight.

Rowan Piggott sang The Cuckoo, on his 2018 album Mountscribe. He noted:

This is a song I had from the singing of Breda Keville, though it also has strong ties to Sussex where I live now. The cuckoo’s call is a harbinger of summer in England, but in the original it’s linked with melancholy warnings of the fickleness of love. I always found myself drawn more to the first two verses (which carry on the Romantic tradition of symboli birdsong)—perhaps something to do with my Grandma being a professional ornithologist!—and so I wrote new verses in the same vein relating some of my favourite birdlore from an Oscar Wilde tale, a nursery rhyme, and my family’s involvement with the Dingle Wren. The tune that follows is a Swedish polska called The Little Sparrow from Värmland.

Nick Dow sang The Cuckoo on his 2020 album of love songs from the British Tradition, In a Garden Grove. He noted:

Collected by Henry Hammond from Mrs. R. Gale of Powerstock, Dorset, May 1906 [VWML HAM/3/18/15] . Hammond remarked: “I like this tune very much.” I am pleased to be the first to have sung this version since he collected it. Most collected versions seem to stem from the 1802 printed publication The Forsaken Nymph, however the song was widespread prior to this date, and always seemed to carry a handsome tune.

This video shows The Auldeners (Iona Fyfe, Callum Morton-Teng, Ellen Gira) performing The Cuckoo in a BBC Scotland Quay session, probably in early 2020:

Lonan sang The Cuckoo on their 2021 album Forever Has Flown. They noted:

An extract of the song learnt from the singing of the wonderful Anne Briggs, who recorded it for her eponymous 1971 album. There are many well-known variations of this song across England, Ireland and America; according to A.L. Lloyd, this version is of Irish origin.

Stick in the Wheel sang The Cuckoo in their 2021 album Tonebeds for Poetry.

Megan Wisdom sang The Cuckoo in 2022 on her and Mossy Christian’s Live Sampler EP.

The Long Runners sang The Coo-Coo in 2024 on their WildGoose album On the Run.

Will Page sang The Cuckoo on his 2024 album Still Standing.

Nadine Shaw sang The Cuckoo in 2024 on Ben Nicholl’s Hudson album Duets.

Lyrics

Mrs J (Florence) Puckett sings The Cuckoo

Cuckoo is a pretty bird
She sings as she flies
She brings us good tidings
And tells us no lies

She sucks the sweet bowers
For to make her voice clear
Though she never hollers ‘Cuckoo’ Till spring-time of the year

Now spring-time is an opening
And the birds they are gay
Likewise is pretty Betsy
She’s as cold as the clay

Clay will dissolve you
And turn you to dust
But not one man in a hundred
That a young girl can trust

They’ll hug you, they’ll kiss you
They’ll tell you more lies
Than the green leaves on a willer Or the stars in the sky

Shirley Collins sings The Cuckoo

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She bringeth us good tidings, she telleth us no lies.
She sucketh white flowers to keep her voice clear,
And everytime she singeth “cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo”,
Then the springtime draweth near.

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, no other is as she.
She flits across the meadow and sings from every tree.
She loves the summer sunshine, she hates the wind and rain,
And everytime she singeth “cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo”,
Then the springtime comes again.

Doc Watson sings The Cuckoo Bird

Gonna build me a log cabin
On a mountain so high.
So I can see Willy
As she goes walking by.

Chorus:
Oh, the cuckoo she’s a pretty bird.
Lord, she warbles as she flies.
She’ll never say cuckoo
’Til the fourth day of July.

Well I played cards in old England
And I’ve gambled over in Spain
And I’ll bet you ten dollars
That I’ll beat you next game.

My horses they ain’t hungry
And they won’t eat your hay.
I’ll drive home just a little farther
Wondering why you treat me this way.

Oh, the cuckoo she’s a pretty bird.
Lord, she warbles as she flies.
She’ll cause you never more trouble
And she’ll tell you no lies.

There’s one thing that’s been a puzzle
Since the day that time began.
A man’s love for, for his woman
And her sweet love for her man.

(Chorus)

Caroline Hughes sings The Cuckoo

Oh, ‘tis night oh after night, love, I do lay on my bed,
With the pillows of feathers all under my head;
Neither sleeping no nor waking, oh no rest can I take,
But the thought of that young man, he still troubles my mind.

Well, I will rise then I will meet him, Love, as the evening draws nigh;
I will meet him as the evening, as the evening draws nigh;
Well, if you think you love a little girl, for your mind for to ease,
Oh, can’t you love the old one, ‘til the young one cames on?

It’s like the flowers all in your garden when the beauty’s all gone,
But can’t you see what I’m come to by a-loving that one?
Now, your grave he will rot you, he will rot you all away,
Not one young man out of twenty a young maid can you trust.

Now, I’ll take my week’s wages, unto an alehouse I’ll go,
Oh, and there I’ll set drinking ‘til my money’s all gone;
Here’s my wife and little family, quite home, starving too,
There’s me in this alehouse, oh a-spending all I earn.

Now, ain’t the cuckoo, she’s called a merry bird, Love, don’t she sing as she flies?
Oh, she brings us good tidings and she tells we no lies;
Oh she sucks all small birds’ eggs for to keep her voice clear,
And every time she hollers “cuckoo!”, don’t the summer draw nigh?

The Strollers (Dave and Toni Arthur) sing The Cuckoo

Well the cuckoo is a pretty bird and she warbles as she flies.
And she never holler “cuckoo!” till the Fourth of July.

Well I’ve played cards in England and I’ve played cards in Spain,
And I’ll bet you five dollars that I’ll win you next game.

Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, I know you of old;
You robbed my poor pockets of my silver and gold.

Well the cuckoo is a pretty bird and she warbles as she flies.
And she never holler “cuckoo” till the Fourth of July.

Anne Briggs sings The Cuckoo

The cuckoo’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She brings us good tidings, tells us no lies.
She sucks the little birds’ eggs to keep her voice clear,
And when she sings “cuckoo!” the summer draws near.

As I walked down by the side of a bush
I heard two birds whistling, the blackbird and the thrush.
I asked them the reason so merry they be,
And the answer they gave me, we are single and we are free.

A-walking, a-talking, a-walking was I,
To meet my true lover, he’ll come by and by,
To meet him in the meadows is all my delight,
A-walking and talking from morning till night.

Meeting is pleasure but parting is a grief
And an inconstant lover is worse than a thief.
A thief can but rob me and take all I have,
But an inconstant lover sends me to my grave.

And the grave, it will rot me and bring me to dust,
An inconstant lover no maiden can trust,
They’ll court you and kiss you and vow they’ll be true
And the very next moment they’ll bid you adieu.

The cuckoo’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies,
She brings us glad tidings, tells us no lies,
And when her time is come, her voice we don’t hear,
And where she goes we do not know until another year.

Frankie Armstrong sings The Cuckoo

Oh it’s night-o after night love
I do lay on me bed
With a feathery pillow all under my head
Neither waking nor sleeping
No rest can I find
For the thoughts of that young man
He still troubles my mind.

I will rise up and meet him
As the evening draws nigh
I will meet him as the evening,
As the evening draws nigh
And if you love another, your mind for to ease
Oh why can’t you love the old one
Til the young’s learned to please?

It’s like the flowers all in your garden
When their beauty’s all gone.
Can’t you see what I’ve come to
By your loving that one?
Oh the grave he will rot you
He will turn you to dust.
There’s not one young man out of twenty
That a poor girl can trust.

Oh the cuckoo ain’t she a merry bird
Don’t she sing as she flies
She brings us glad tidings
And she tells us no lies
She sucks the small birds’ eggs
For to keep her voice clear
And whenever she hollers ‘Cuckoo’
Don’t the summer draw near.

Cyril Tawney sings The Cuckoo

O the cuckoo is a pretty bird, she singeth as she flies,
She bringeth good tidings she telleth no lies.
She sucketh sweet flowers to keep her voice clear
And when she sings “cuckoo!” the summer draweth near.

O meeting is pleasure but parting is grief,
An inconstant lover is worse than a thief.
A thief can but rob you of all that you have
But an inconstant lover will send you to the grave.

The grave will receive you and bring you to the dust,
An inconstant lover no maiden can trust.
They’ll court you and kiss you, poor maids to deceive,
There’s not one in twenty that one may believe.

Come all you fair maidens, wherever you be,
Don’t hang your poor hearts on the sycamore tree.
The leaf it will wither, and the roots will decay
And if you’re forsaken you’ll perish away.

Minty Smith sings The Cuckoo Is a Merry Bird

Oh, cuckoo is a merry bird, she sings, oh, as she flies.
She sucks all the robin’s eggs, and tells us no lies.
Cuckoo is a merry bird, she sings, oh, as she flies.
And she only hollers ‘Cuckoo’ three months in a year.

Bill Smith sings The Cuckoo

The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she singeth as she flies
She bringeth us good tidings,she telleth us no lies
She sucketh all sweet flowers to keep her throttle clear
And every time she singeth Cuckoo, the summer draweth near.

The cuckoo is a giddy bird, no other is as she
She flits across the meadow and sings in every tree
A nest she never buildeth, a vargrant she doth roam
Her music is but tearful Cuckoo, I nowhere have a home.

Walter Pardon sings The Cuckoo

The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she singeth as she flies
She telleth us good tidings, she telleth us no lies
She sucketh all sweet flowers to keep her throttle clear
And every time she singeth ‘Cuckoo, cuckoo’
The Summer draweth near.

The cuckoo is a pretty bird, no other is as she
That flits across the meadow, that sings on every tree
A nest she never buildeth, a vagrant she doth roam
Like her, I would be singing ‘Cuckoo, cuckoo’
I nowhere have a home.

Cockersdale sing The Cuckoo

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She brings us good tidings, she tells us no lies.
She sucks little birds’ eggs to make her voice clear,
And when she sings “cuckoo!” the summer draws near.

As I walked down by the side of a bush
I heard two birds whistling, the blackbird and the thrush.
I asked them the reason so merry they be,
And the answer they gave me, we are single and free.

A-walking, and a-talking, and a-walking was I,
To meet my true lover, he’ll be there by and by,
To meet him in the meadow is all my delight,
From lark rise in the morning to owl call at night.

Oh, meeting is pleasure but parting is a grief
And a false-hearted lover is worse than a thief.
A thief can but rob you and take all you have,
But an false-hearted lover sends you to your grave.

The grave, it will rot you and bring you to dust,
For a false-hearted lover no maiden can trust,
They’ll court you and kiss you and vow they’ll be true
But like the swallow in the autumn they’ll bid you adieu.

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She brings us good tidings, she tells us no lies.
And when her time’s come, her voice we don’t hear,
And where she goes we don’t know until another year.

Aileen Carr sings The Cuckoo

Chorus:
The Cuckoo she’s a bonny bird and she sings as she flies
She brings us glad tidings and she tells us no lies
She feeds on the small birds to keep her voice clear
And she never sings cuckoo till the summer is near

To a meeting one evening to a meeting went I
To meet wi’ my bonny love he’ll be here by and by
Our meeting was pleasure our parting was grief
For a false hearted young man is worse than a thief

For a thief he will rob you and take all that you have
But a false hearted young man will bring you to your grave
The grave will consume you bring your body to dust
There’s not a man in a hundred that a woman can trust

Come all you pretty fair maids take a warning from me
Never place you affections on a green growing tree
For the roots they will wither and the leaves will decay
He will turn his back on you and he’ll walk straight away

Well I may be forsaken but I’ll not be forsworn
And he surely is mistaken if he thinks that I’ll mourn
I’ll take off this black dress and I’ll flourish in green
And I’ll walk as light by him as he does by me

(Chorus)

Richard Thompson sings The Coo Coo Bird

Yeah, the coo coo she’s a pretty bird
Oh, she warbles as she flies
And she never cries coo coo
Till the fourth day of July

Gonna build me a log cabin
On a mountain so high
So I can see Willie
As he goes passing by

Well, I’ve played cards in England
And I’ve played cards in Spain
And I’ll bet you ten dollars
That I’ll win the next game

Jack of diamonds, oh, Jack of diamonds
I’ve known you of old
You robbed my poor pockets
Of the silver and his gold

(repeat first verse)

Hmm, hmm-hmm, …

Coope Boyes & Simpson sing The Cuckoo

The cuckoo is a merry bird, she sings as she flies;
She brings us glad tidings and tells us no lies.
She sucks the sweet flowers to make her sing clear
And she never sings “cuckoo” till summer is near.

Oh, meeting is pleasure but parting a grief,
An inconstant lover is worse than a thief.
For a thief will but rob you and take all you have,
But an inconstant lover will bring you to the grave.

The grave, it will rot you and bring you to dust,
There is not one in twenty young men girls can trust.
They will kiss you and court you and swear to be true
And the very next moment they’ll bid you adieu.

Come all you young women wherever you be,
Build never your nest in the top of a tree.
For the leaves they will wither, the branches decay
And the beauty of fair maids will soon fade away.

(repeat first verse)

The Devil’s Interval sing The Cuckoo

O, it’s night after night, love, I do lay on my bed,
With the pillows, the feathers all under my head;
Neither sleeping nor waking, oh no rest can I take,
But the thought of that young man, he still troubles my mind.

I will rise then, I will meet him, love, as the evening draws nigh;
I will meet him in the evening as the evening draws nigh;
Well if you think you love a little girl, oh, your mind for to ease,
Then why can’t you love the old one till the new one comes on?

It’s like the flowers all in your garden when the beauty’s all gone
Can’t you see what I’m come to by loving that one?
Oh, your grave he will rot you, he will rot you all away,
There’s not one young man out of twenty a young man can you trust.

So, I’ll take my week’s wages, unto an alehouse I’II go,
And it’s there I’ll sit drinking till my money’s all gone;
Here’s my wife and little family all at home starving too,
And there’s me in this alehouse, oh, a-spending all I earn.

Oh, the cuckoo she’s called a merry bird, love, don’t she sing as she flies,
And she brings us good tidings and she tells us no lies;
And she sucks all small birds’ eggs for to keep her voice clear,
And every time she hollers “cuckoo!”, don’t the summer draw nigh?

Roger Grimes sings The Cuckoo

O the cuckoo is a pretty bird, he sings as he flies
He brings us glad tidings and he tells us no lies
He suck the sweet flowers for to make his voice clear
And the more he sing “cuckoo” the summer draw near.

It’s a-walking and a-talking and a-walking went I
For to meet my own true love, he’ll be there by and by
For to meet him it’s a pleasure and to part is a grief
For a false hearted young man he is worse than a thief.

For a thief he will rob you of all that you have
But a false hearted young man he’ll lead you to the grave
The grave it will rot you and turn you to dust
A false hearted young man I’ll never more trust.

For once I had the colour of the bud of a rose
But now I’m as pale as a lily that grows
A flower in the morning cut down in full bloom
What do you think I’m coming to by the loving of one.

So come all you pretty fair maids, who’ve listened to me
Beware of young soldiers in every degree
They’ll kiss you and court you, young maids to deceive
There is not one in twenty that a maid can believe.

For they’ll laugh under their hats love as they see you pass by
They’ll bow with their body and they’ll wink with one eye
They’ll kiss you and court you and swear to be true
And the very next moment they’ll bid you adieu.

Jean Ritchie sings The Cuckoo

O the cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies;
She brings us glad tidings and she tells us no lies.
She sucks all the pretty flowers to make her voice clear
And she never sings “cuckoo” till the spring of the year.

Come all you young women, take warning by me,
Never place your affection on the love of a man.
For the roots they will wither, the branches decay,
He’ll turn his back on you and he’ll walk square away.

If you do forsake me I’ll not be forsworn
And they’ll all be mistaken if they think that I’ll mourn;
For I’ll get myself up in some higher degree
And I’ll walk as light by him as he can by me.

(repeat first verse)

Maddy Prior sings The Cuckoo

O the cuckoo she’s a pretty bird and she singeth as she flies
She brings us good tidings and she tells us no lies
She sucks the small bird’s eggs to keep her voice clear
And the more she singeth cuckoo the summer draws near

And when I have found out my joy and delight
I’ll welcome him kindly by day and by night
For the bells shall be a-ringing and the drums make a noise
For to welcome in my true love with ten thousand joys

In the middle of the ocean there grows a myrtle tree
And the green leaves will whither and the branches shall die
The leaves will whither and the roots they will decay
And a false-hearted lover will soon fade away

For it’s meeting is pleasure and parting is grief
And an inconstant lover is worse than any thief
For a thief he will rob you and take all you have
But a false-hearted lover will lead you to the grave

But now I have found him my own heart’s delight
I will be true to my love by day and by night
I will be as true to him as the little turtle dove
Nor I never shall, no never, prove false to my love

Jon Boden sings The Cuckoo

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird and she sings as she flies.
She brings us glad tidings and she tells us no lies.
She sucks upon the wild birds’ eggs for to keep her voice clear,
And when she sings “cuckoo” the summer draws near.

A-walking and a-talking, a-walking was I,
To meet my true lover, he’ll be there by and by,
To meet him in the meadow it was all my delight,
A-walking and a-talking from morning until night.

For meeting is a pleasure but parting it is a grief
An inconstant lover is worse than a thief.
For a thief he will but rob you, take all you have,
But an inconstant lover will send you to the grave.

And the grave, it will rot you and turn you into dust,
There is not one in twenty pretty maidens can trust,
They will kiss you and embrace you and swear they’ll prove true
But the very next moments they will bid you adieu.

So come all you fair and tender maids and a warning take by me,
And never try and build your nest at the top of a tall tree.
For the green leaves they will wither and the branches decay,
And the fair looks of a pretty young maid will soon fade away.

Fay Hield sings The Cuckoo

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She brings us glad tidings and tells us no lies.
She sucks on the wild birds’ eggs to keep her voice clear,
And when she sings “cuckoo” the summer draws near.

As I was walking by the side of a bush
I heard two birds whistling, the blackbird and the thrush.
I asked them the reason so happy they be,
And the answer that they gave me: “We are single and we are free.”

A-walking and a-talking, a-walking was I
To meet my true lover, he’ll be there by and by.
To meet him in the meadow is all my delight,
A-walking and a-talking from morning till night.

For meeting it is a pleasure but parting it is a grief
And an inconstant lover is far worse than a thief.
A thief he will but rob you and steal all you have,
But an inconstant lover will send you to the grave.

And the grave, it will rot you and turn you into dust,
An inconstant lover no maiden can trust,
He’ll court you and kiss you and vow he’ll be true
And the very next moments he’ll bid you adieu.

So all you young and tender maids come take a warning by me,
Never set your heart on a sycamore tree.
His green leaves they will wither, his roots they will decay,
And the fair looks of a pretty young maid will soon fade away.

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies.
She brings us glad tidings and tells us no lies.
When her time has come her voice we don’t hear
And where she goes we do not know until another year.

Cecil Sharp Project 2011 sing The Coo Coo Bird

Gonna build me a log cabin
On a mountain so high
So I can see my honey babe
As he goes walking by

O the Coo Coo, she’s a pretty bird
And she warbles as she flies
And she never says ‘CooCoo’
‘Till the fourth day of July

I’ve played cards in England
I’ve gambled over in Spain
I’ll bet you ten dollars
That I’ll beat you next game

Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds
I have known you from old
You’ve robbed my poor pockets
Of my silver, and my gold

My horses, they ain’t hungry
They won’t eat your hay
I’ll ride on a little bit farther
And I’ll feed ’em along my way

June Tabor sings The Cuckoo

As I was a-walking by the side of yon bush
I heard two birds whistling, the blackbird and the thrush,
I asked them the reason so merry they be
And the answer they gave me, “We are single and free.”

It’s night after night, love, as I lay on my bed,
The feathery pillows all under my head.
Neither sleeping nor waking, no rest can I find
But the thought of that young man still troubles my mind.

There’s me and my baby, contented we’ll be
And I’ll try to forget you as you’ve forgotten me.
For the grave he will rot you and turn you to dust,
Not one young man in twenty can a poor girl trust.

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird, she sings as she flies,
She brings us good tidings, she tells us no lies.
She sucks the small birds’ eggs for to keep her voice clear
And the more she cries “cuckoo”, don’t she summer draw near.

Rowan Piggott sings The Cuckoo

O the Cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies
She brings us good tidings and tells us no lies
She sucks the little birds eggs to keep her voice clear
And when she sings cuckoo, the summer draws near.

As I walked down by the side of a bush,
I heard two birds whistling; the Blackbird and the Thrush
I asked them the reason so merry they be
And the answer that they gave me: We are single and we are free.

But the Nightingale sings so sweetly for true love she knows.
She’s pierced her brown breast on the thorn of a rose.
That rose once as white as the first fall of snow
Glows scarlet in the moonlight, her heartache to show.

A-walking a-talking, a-walking was I,
When I spied Cock Robin in a ditch he did lie,
I asked him who caused him such sorrow, such strife
And he told me that the Sparrow had taken his life.

So when the year’s a-turning and wassailing we go,
I’ll spy our small king as he dashes through the snow.
The Wren singing boldly is out aways in front
Of the boys in straw costume who are out on the hunt.