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Cuckoo's Nest, Bledington

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Source: RK Schofield's mss at VWML KWS 2/5 p
Performer: Hathaway, George
Date collected: Aug. 1937

Versions of the Cuckoo’s Nest have been noted from Bucknell (Oxon), Ilmington (Warks), Longborough and Sherborne (Glos).

RK Schofield also noted the tune from Charles Benfield in 1 Sept 1924. For comparison I have included both versions in the .abc and .pdf files. Although at first glance the two versions of the tune appear very similar, the two versions are in different modes. Compared to the major scale, CB’s version has flattened 3rd and 7th notes, making it in the dorian mode. In GH’s version the 3rd, 6th and 7th notes are flattened, giving the melodic minor scale (aeolian mode). The difference is more evident in the versions to play, in which I have transposed CB’s version so that the notes correspond to those in GH’s.

Note by Charles Menteith