The Cuckoo (song)

"The Cuckoo" (Roud 413) is a traditional English folk song, also sung in the USA, Canada, Scotland and Ireland. It has been covered by many musicians in several different styles. An early notable recorded version was performed by Appalachian folk musician Clarence Ashley with a unique banjo tuning.

The song is known by many names, including "The Coo-Coo", "The Coo-Coo Bird", "The Cuckoo Bird", "The Cuckoo Is A Pretty Bird", "The Evening Meeting", "The Unconstant Lover, Bunclody" and "Going to Georgia".

Lyrics usually include the line (or a slight variation):

The cuckoo is a pretty bird, she sings as she flies; she brings us glad tidings, and she tells us no lies.

According to Thomas Goldsmith of The Raleigh News & Observer, "The Cuckoo" is reportedly descended from an old folk ballad; it's an interior monologue where the singer "relates his desires — to gamble, to win, to regain love's affection."

The song is featured in the E.L. Doctorow book The March. A soldier suffering from a metal spike stuck in his head sings verses from the song.

Usually, but not always, the song begins with a verse about the cuckoo, for example:

The cuckoo is a fine bird he sings as he flies,
He brings us good tidings and tells us no lies.
He sucks the sweet flowers to make his voice clear,
And the more he cries cuckoo, the summer is nigh.

(In many American versions, the cuckoo patriotically "never sings "cuckoo" till the fourth of July". In some ornithologically observant English versions "she sucks little birds' eggs to make her voice clear.")

A young woman (usually - sometimes a young man) complains of the inconstancy of young men (or women) and the pain of losing in love. The song often consists mainly of "floating" verses (verses found in more than one song expressing common experiences and emotions), and apart from the constant cuckoo verse, usually sung at the beginning, there is no fixed order, though sometimes a verse sounds as if it is going to be the start of a story:

"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. "

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