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 The first song we arranged together was The Cuckoo and we gigged with that for a long time. Originally an English song that warns of the fickleness of true love, The Cuckoo has since travelled far and changed much. We later took on Ewan MacColl’s adaptation which introduces a dove in the cuckoo’s place as a symbol of peace and a statement against the horrors of war. We finish the song off with a driving fiddle tune, Wynchburgh Junction.

The White Dove

 

Oh the white dove she’s a pretty bird and she sings as she flies

And she brings us glad tidings and she tells us no lies

And she drinks the spring water for to make her voice clear

When her nest she is building and the summer draws near

 

Come all you young fellows take warning by me

Don’t go for a soldier don’t join no army

For the white dove she will leave you and the raven will come

And death will come marching at the beat of a drum

 

Come all you pretty fair maids take a walk in the sun

Don’t let your, your young man ever carry a gun

For the white dove it will scare her and she will fly away

And then there will be weeping by night and by day

Ewan Maccoll

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