- Style
- Old-time
- Tradition
- British Isles, American fiddle
- Form
- Hornpipe
- Keys
- G and D
- Level
- 3
- Played on
- Fiddle and Mandolin
In the public domain. Source
Music
90bpm
Click any note to start from there
Chord chart
History
This hornpipe goes back at least to the early 18th century and was played all over Britain, Ireland and North America. The title was a bawdy joke. Matt Seattle believed it began as a Scots measure in D minor called "Come Ashore Jolly Tar with Your Trousers On," and it shows up in major and minor versions alike. James Aird printed it in 1782 with an extra fourth part found nowhere else.
James Hogg wrote in 1819 that when he was young, every old person who could sing at all knew the song "The cuckoo is a bonny bird" to this tune. In America it is a hornpipe and breakdown, often in D.
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.