COO COO BIRD

Clarence Ashley’s most popular song was “The Coo-Coo Bird” which has perhaps the

most interesting history of any of his songs. He was much more particular with “The

Coo-Coo Bird” than any of his other songs. He had recorded it earlier; but when he was

asked to play it in the 1960’s, he refused to play it before it was polished to perfection.

When he did play it, he often prefaced the song with “I don’t know if other people sing it

the way I do or not – and I don’t care.” Fritz Plous (folk archivist) gave an account of

seeing Ashley perform at The University of Chicago Folk Festival of 1962, in which the

audience was deeply moved by the almost oriental sound of the Tennessee farmer playing

a centuries-old song on a modal-tuned five-string banjo. The other members of the band

suddenly faded into the shadows as Ashley at seventy years of age picked up his banjo,

sat down in a chair, and spoke to the crowd: “I set this old bird a-flyin’ back in the

twenties, and she’s been flyin’ round the country ever since, people sing this song all

over”.

Oh the cuckoo she’s a pretty bird

She warbles as she flies

She never hollers coo coo till the fourth day of July

Gonna build me log cabin

On a mountain so high

So I can see Willie as he goes on by

Well I’ve played cards in Texas

And I’ve played cards in Maine

Oh I’ll bet you five dollars I’ll beat you next game

Jack of Diamonds Jack of Diamonds

Oh I know you of old

You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold

Rye whiskey, rye whiskey

Oh I know you of old

You robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold

*Sometimes I feel much younger

Sometimes I feel so old

Sometimes the warm sun shines sometimes it’s dreadful cold

Oh the cuckoo she’s a pretty bird

How I wish she was mine

She never drinks water she only drinks wine

Banjo Mountain