I came of age with this band. "Drink down the moon" was always my favorite song by them. Great players with honest feel. The voice of MP is one of God's gifts to us all. Bless 'em.
I've often thought my DNA remembers, too! Love bagpipes, tin whistles, all those old songs and growing up in the southern United States, there's no cultural reason why I should. My Irish grandmother would say, 'Sure, it's in the genes now, isn't it?'
I remember so vividly how I played this song almost non-stop as I sat in a seedy flat in Stockwell reading 'The Magus' by John Fowles. It seemed to fit so perfectly to the mood of the book. It still makes me shiver, forty years later.
"Three maidens a-milking did go Three maidens a-milking did go And the wind it did blow high And the wind it did blow low It tossed their petticoats to a fro They met with some young man they know They met with some young man they know And they boldly asked him if he had any skill To catch them a small bird or two Oh yes, I've a very good skill Oh yes, I've a very good skill And it's come along with me to yonder flowering tree And I'll catch a small bird or two So off to the green woods went they And it's off to the green woods went they And he tapped at the bush and the bird it did fly in A little above her lily white knee Her sparkling eyes they did turn around Just as if she had been all in a swoon And she cried "I've a bird and a very pretty bird And he's pecking away at his own ground" Here's a health to the bird in the bush Here's a health to the bird in the bush And we'll drink up the sun, we'll drink down the moon Let the people say little or much There is a thorn bush in our Cale yard There is a thorn bush in our Cale yard At the back o'thorn bush there lays a lad and lass And they're busy busy fairing at the cuckoo's nest Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest I'd give anybody a shilling and a bottle of the best That'll rumple up the feathers in the cuckoo's nest It is thorn and it is prickle, it is compassed all around It is thorn and it is prickle, and it isn't easy found She said young man you blunder and I said it isn't true And I left her with the makings of a young cuckoo Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest I'd give anybody a shilling and a bottle of the best That'll rumple up the feathers in the cuckoo's nest"
I've heard Isla Cameron's a capella version ("The Bird in the Bush") and love SES's instrumentals and vocals (praise Maddie!). It is lush and gorgeous.
Her voice sounds to have acquired a certain quality as she aged. It's now different than it was thirty years ago. Both are beautiful in their own sense.
Agreed, she's always had a very 'expressive' voice and style, but it seems to have become even better and more 'fine-tuned' these days. BTW, you can also tell these guys are all pretty experienced and 'comfortable' playing together, starting with the 'open tuning' as someone else pointed out.
Luv this tune and had forgotten just how terrific this group is. Maddy as ever is/was just superb, but really all of them are such a magical combination... thank you for posting this! Although geez, now it makes me wanna go out and learn the fiddle! ;-p
Yes, was listening to the much earlier version off their album, and I'm convinced her voice has become even better, richer and more sonorous with time! With such dramatically changing moods, it's also probably my fav SES song (though kinda hard to choose)!
@@Wotsitorlabart You don't know where this 'english folk song' originated. The rhythm, lyrics, or the melody could very well have everything to do with the 'celts'.
@@libbyhicks7549 Because it is English, that's where folksong collectors have noted the song. Also known as 'Three Maids a Milking Did Go', 'Three Pretty Maidens', and 'The Bird in the Bush' and frequently printed on Victorian broadsheets. As we know it is English for it to be 'Celtic' it would have to be over 1400 years old (prior to the Anglo-Saxon invasions) which even you must admit is a tad unlikely.
@@Wotsitorlabart I will say that many folk tunes that were put to paper by a certain society during a certain era, were actually passed down in the oral tradition for many hundreds of yrs prior and could easily have originated in Celtic lands.
@@libbyhicks7549 English songs were taken up by Irish and Scots musicians and vice versa. But in most cases the origins of the song are known or can be deduced by the tune structure, lyrics etc and the locations of where it has been collected. The song in question is indisputably English in origin and has no 'Celtic' connections. Interestingly, if you take a look at videos of Planxty playing 'The Blacksmith' many of the comments wax lyrical about the fantastic Irish song. It's actually English.
I'd agree. I was in the other room, and thought "this sounds even better than the version I already have in my playlist". I come out and see that it's a live recording made years later. Go figure.
Listen to Ashley Hutchings' version, called, simply, "The Cuckoo's Next." VERY rude and a great companion piece to this. AH was with Steeleye for awhile, I believe.
Nah, 'tis naught to do with DNA. It's just that this type of music happens to be intrinsically awesome, so that anyone with taste buds (not many people these days) enjoys it.
Your remarks about the "Cukoo's Nest" segment of this viddy may be the stupidest thing I've ever heard come from an allegedly adult human being. The idea is to preserve old folks songs, and that does NOT mean filtering them through today's sensibilities. The song is a couple of hundred years old. I hope you'll get some sense of what history is, and how important it is to preserve it -- including the music.
Much too PC. These songs should be left as they were meant to be sung. Please! Do you hear Maddy's joy and laughter at the end. The singer is no rape victim!
Maddy's singing here is even better than in the original Steeleye Span recording. Lovely stuff, apart from the "makings of a young cuckoo" sexist bit that could easily be discarded in the interests of sexual equality etc. Folk music is supposed to evolve - this doesn't just mean adding drums and bass. Now for the LGBt version :)
@DaMuttzNutz "Steeleye are in the business of keeping those ancient folk songs alive" This wasn't true in regard to the Steeleye of the 1970s. The folksy pop they produced was far removed from traditional folk music. In fact after their first couple albums, they wrote most of their songs themselves, just loosely based on folkloric material. I suppose my point is, if little else about the music is traditional, why retain the (unfortunate) traditional sexist attitudes of the past?
@DaMuttzNutz *shrug* If you're happy with folk songs merely being museum pieces preserving social attitudes of the past, then fine. But if you want people to warm to such songs as relevant music for today, then it would be a good idea to leave out the sexist crud.
Yes! And while we're at it, when we stage Shakespeare plays, let's remove all that nasty violence, and let's put clothing on all of those Raphael paintings, and cut the references to slavery out of Huckleberry Finn! Pretty soon, we can have every unpleasantness canceled, and then there will be joy, joy, joy up in our father's house.
I like allison gross, the lady singer does nothing for me at all... the male voice rounds it out if you know what songs a male sings please message them to me
