Cuckoo's Nest is one of those tunes that is commonly heard among fiddler's of many different traditions. Truly, it may be one of the first "crossover tunes". I don't know if it's ever been played with Indian Tabla (drums), before this recording, but I wouldn't be surprised.
When I got an email from my fiddle friend, Sandra Wong, saying that she and Ty Burhoe (an awesomely cool Tabla player who lives in Boulder, and spends much of his time traveling the globe performing) would be playing a house concert in Fort Collins, I couldn't miss it. They are super talented and super nice, and I really had a blast playing my fiddle tune a day with them. CAVEAT: There is a thumb in the video, and the video got cut off midway (when we were still getting warmed up), so you won't get to hear the coolest stuff we did, but such is technology, and I apologize. We will do better on the video next time. :-)
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The Cuckoo's Nest according to the Fiddler's Companion
*** WARNING: Content may not be suitable for children ***
CUCKOO'S NEST [14] (Nead na Cuaiche" or "Nead an Cuaic"). See "Cuckoo Hornpipe." AKA and see "All Around," "Captain Moss's," "Come Ashore," "Come Ashore, Jolly Tar, with Your Trousers/Trowsers On," "Coo Coo's Nest," "Cuckold's Nest," "I do confess thou(gh) art sae fair," "Jacky Tar" (Hornpipe), "The Mower," "The Mountain Top [3]," "An Spealadoir" (The Mower), "The Trousers On," "The Yellow Heifer [1]." British Isles, Old-Time, Bluegrass; Hornpipe, Reel, Breakdown. D Major (Barnes, Brody, Carlin {setting #1}, Kerr, Moylan, Phillips/1995 {setting #1}, Silberberg): D Dorian (Roche, 1st setting): G Major (Harding, Harker/Rafferty, Merryweather & Seattle, Mulvihill, O'Neill/Krassen & 1001, Phillips/1995 {setting #2}, Roche {setting 2}: E Aeolian (O'Neill/Krassen -1st setting): A Dorian (Phillips): A Major (Carlin/setting #2, O'Malley). Standard tuning. AB (Begin, Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Harding, Kerr, Moylan, Phillips, Roche, O'Neill, Phillips and Carlin {1st settings}): AABC (Mulvihill): AABBCC (Barnes, Kennedy, Merryweather & Seattle, O'Neill/Krassen, 1001 & 1915, Roche, and Carlin {2nd settings}): AA'BBCC' (Harker/Rafferty): AA'BB'CC' (O'Malley).
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An extremely popular English melody known throughout the British Isles and British North America whose title, the 'cuckoo's nest,' commonly referred to female pubic hair and accompanying anatomy. It dates to at least the early 18th century. James Aird's printing in his Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1 (1782, pg. 66) includes an interesting fourth strain, not found in other sources. Matt Seattle (1987, 1994) believes the tune to originally have been a Scots Measure in D Minor with the title "Come Ashore Jolly Tar (with) Your Trousers On," but notes that many versions of this tune exist, with quite substantial variation between them, in major and minor keys (he remarks that the Northumbrian William Vicker's late 18th century setting is evidently minor, despite the key signature). The title appears in numerous 18th and 19th century dance collections, and made Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800. In Jacobite Relics (1819) James Hogg prints a song to the melody, commenting: "It must have been a great favourite in the last age, for about the time when I first began to know one tune from another, all the old people that could sing at all, could sing "The cuckoo is a bonny bird." He prints the following words to the tune:
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The cuckoo's a bonny bird when he comes home,
The cuckoo's a bonny bird when he comes home;
He'll fley away the wild birds that hank about the throne,
My bonny cuckoo when he comes home.
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Poet John Clare (1793-1864) is highly regarded for his body of work inspired by the English countryside and rural life of the early 18th century. He was born in the village of Helpston, Northamptonshire, the son of an agricultural laborer and singer of local reputation, and became a fiddler and collector of songs and tunes of southern England. He recalled, "Both my parents was illiterate to the last degree. [My father] was likewise fond of Ballads, & I have heard him make a boast of it over his horn of ale with his merry companions, that he could sing or recite above a hundred; he had a tolerable good voice, & was often calld upon to sing at those convivials of bacchanalian merry makings." Clare collected:
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Now some likes a girl that is pretty in the face,
And others likes a girl that is slender in the waist
But give me the girl with a wriggle and twist
That is pleasant and good-tempered with a cuckoo's nest.
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The Cuckoo's Nest is also the name of a Scottish country dance, which, though increasingly rare, was danced in parts of the country (e.g. West Berwickshire) through the 19th century.
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Fiddle Tune a Day - Day 30 - Festival Waltzby vithefiddler129 views
Great sound a cool video with that finger... really spontaneous! :)
Thanks for your music.
Sinesperanzaninguna 3 weeks ago
@Sinesperanzaninguna You can't beat the video quality on this one, really. ;)
vithefiddler 3 weeks ago