Week #96 ~ Cuckoo's Nest

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  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    This week's winner is Cuckoo's Nest, which was submitted as an Irish Traditional Hornpipe. I'm not familiar with this tune, and my search resulted in several different tunes by that name (or variations of the same tune). Here are links to the ones I found...

    Cuckoo's Nest on abctunesearch from Nottingham Music Database

    Another one on abctunesearch again from Nottingham Music Database

    Cuckoo's Nest on abctunesearch from The Delivery Boys

    Cuckoo's Nest on abctunesearch from John Chamber's Music Collection

    Cuckoo's Nest from thesession.org

    Another Cuckoo's Nest on thesession.org

    I'm posting this early, as I'm about to hit the road. If anyone is familiar with any tune called Cuckoo's Nest, please give us some input!
  2. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Here are the ABC's to an Irish hornpipe version Dick (Ptarmi) posted along with a video he submitted to an earlier thread about this tune...

    X: 1
    T: Cuckoo's Nest, The
    M: 4/4
    L: 1/8
    R: hornpipe
    K: Gmaj
    dc|B2 BA GB dg|fd cB ce dc|B2 BG (3EFG AB|c2 A2 A2 dc|
    B2 BA GB dg|fd cB ce dc|B2 BG (3EFG Ac|B2 G2 G2:|:Bc|
    dB GB dB GB|dB cA G2 AB|cA FA cA FA|cB AG G2 BA|
    G2 Bc dg ~g2|fd cB ce dc|B2 BG (3EFG Ac|B2 G2 G2:|:Bc|
    dg gf ga bg|af d^c d2-de|=fe de ^fg af|gf dB ce dc|
    B2 BA GB dg|bg dB ce dc|B2 DE FG Ac|B2 G2 G2:|

    Must learn this one - the Eastman 805 is on the UPS truck "out for delivery" as we speak. I'll need to throw some new strings on it but maybe I'll get a chance to record a vid on Sunday sometime. In the meantime I can always start learning it on the 'oul tenor banjo!
  3. billkilpatrick
    imminent eastman ... ooooooo-ahhhhh
  4. Michael Thompson
    Michael Thompson
    I have a 3-day weekend coming up in which to work my fingers to the bone on this one. I have the TEF of 2 different versions by Chris Thile, so we'll see how well I do. *crossing fingers*
  5. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Here's my take on Cuckoo's Nest, played in a reel setting and taken from David Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook.......

  6. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    great stuff Tosh!
  7. Ed Goist
    Ed Goist
    Tosh, that was awesome!
    What a great tune, and you just nailed it!
  8. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Excellent Tosh! I play it a bit differently but it is clearly the same tune!

  9. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Thanks for the kind words Jill & Ed, and Bernie great to see you in here again, a great arrangement and it looked how it should be, having fun with music.....fantastic.
  10. Manfred Hacker
    Manfred Hacker
    Very nice, indeed, Tosh.
    Your mando seems to be sounding even better with every tune you post.
  11. maudlin mandolin
    maudlin mandolin
    Nice playing Bernie and Tosh. There seem to be a lot of variations of this tune - this is the Scottish one.
  12. Alex Orr
    Alex Orr
    Here's my take. My instructor assigned me the Fiddler's Fakebook version this week, so this was good timing for this to be the SOTW. It's interesting to hear the different versions after learning the FFB version. Sometimes it sounds like this tune is played with the A and B parts switched around, basically the opposite of my version. Interesting to note that even when two people are playing the same version of the same song (as Tosh and I are) the tunes come out a tad different.

  13. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    This is great! Wonderful how the tune has changed into different versions but they are all pretty much recognizable -- anyone know what the "root" tune sounded like? For example, I my memory serves I believe someone at a session (a person who seems to know every Celtic tune composed) once told me the "mother tune" for Cuckoo's nest was Jackie Tarr? Anyone? Great playing by all you folks!

    BTW it has words so it can be a song as well - here is one verse and the chorus -- I wonder what this song is all about anyway?

    The Cuckoo's Nest

    There's a corner in the meadow where the lads and lasses meet
    Oh they do here what they couldn't do in the open street
    They play all kinds of games there, but the one I like the best
    Is where every laddie rumples up the cuckoo's nest.

    Chorus:
    It's high the cuckoo, low the cuckoo, high the cuckoo's nest
    It's high the cuckoo, low the cuckoo, high the cuckoo's nest
    I'll give any maid a shilling and a bottle of the best
    Just to rumple up the feathers of her cuckoo's nest
  14. Toycona
    Toycona
    Oh my!!!
  15. jordandvm
    jordandvm
    Great pickin' Alex! This tune gives me fits! I play it in both the Bluegrass jam and Celtic Session I attend. We play it about 200bpm and I can't keep up in the Celtic group. I don't know what the proper speed is for this tune. This is the fastest I can play it with any amount of accuracy and I still made mistakes. I'm playing this with my Breedlove OF Quartz mandolin.



    I see there's another thread started by Old Sausage on this tune. Is it possible to merge these two threads together into one?

    Jim
  16. David Hansen
    David Hansen
    The Cuckoo's Nest on the Mandonator with a little help with the tempo from Jack.

  17. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Lovely work as ever, Mr Hansen.

    Well, I thought I would do a new one in honor of this new thread - and since last time I just played it solo, this one features my usual backing group.

  18. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    The bar is going so high I don't think I even see it any more.
    Welcome Alex. Very nice first posting on your KM900 [I believe]
    David, did Jack make you bend those strings. Very cool.
    O.S. Your backup band was in perfect sync. just like they were in your head.
    I heard about a great picking session in Jasper last week. By chance were you there?
    Gary
  19. Toycona
    Toycona
    Well...Here's my shot at the cuckoo's nest. What a great line-up...

  20. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Some great stuff here by Jim & Toycona and welcome Alex, great first post. David & OS, your mastery is astounding as ever. Manfred and Maudlin thanks for you kind words. As for versions, well I'm not sure how you differentiate Cuckoo's Nest from the Cuckoo, but one of my favourite bands from the early 70's was the JSD Band and they did the Cuckoo:-

  21. Alex Orr
    Alex Orr
    Welcome Alex. Very nice first posting on your KM900 [I believe]
    Thanks Gary. Actually, it's a KM-380. I didn't know they made such a thing as the 900 until you mentioned it. Sounds nice on the demo they have online at the mandolin store.
  22. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
  23. Bernie Daniel
    Bernie Daniel
    Really great stuff! Alex sounds just great. Toycona, I have to know what is that pick you are using? And OS you are making that "Thile" sound -- awesome. How do you generate the back up? Is that Band in a Box software? Maudlin where did you come up with the Scottish version - excellent. It seems to me that most of my favorite Celtic tunes trace back to Scotland for some reason.
  24. Toycona
    Toycona
    It's a Wegen 1.5. I have a genuine tortoise shell pick (procurement=long story), and I'll bust it out one of these days for a tone variation. It's a great pick that I use sparingly. I really should play with it until it breaks, but...
  25. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Thanks Bernie - the backup is all me playing different instruments, multi tracked.
  26. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    Wow, it's only Sunday, and there's already too many great versions to list. Of course, it's impossible not to single out the two Davids and their awesome playing. Also, Great first post Alex, and you didn't sound nervous at all to me.

  27. tnt2002
    tnt2002
    The bar is way too high this week. Nicd job everyone. I've been voting for this song the last few weeks because it's so fun! I'm glad everyone is having fun with it.

    I probably could do better with another 60 takes, but enough. My son was watching me and doing air mandolin and he really cracked me up. This isn't my best, but we liked it the best.


    Tom

  28. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    That version made me pull out my air mandolin too, Thom. Lots of fun.
  29. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    Tom. The bars never too high when you're having fun. And, I noticed you folk with kids have the most. I think I'm going to have to rent a couple.
    Gary
  30. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Everyone is doing such outstanding work.
    Old Sausage: great ensemble playing with beautiful bluegrass variations on the mandolin.
    David Hansen: love that mandonator.
    Marcelyn: terrific version and you already have a mandolin style that I can recognize anywhere. (Love the triplets.)
    jordan doin, alex orr, maudlin mandoin (scottish version), Berniel Daniel and a laughing tnt2002: excellent playing and a gold mine of variations.
    Tosh: still working on it. Stay tuned...

    Just in case you missed it, here is the link to a medley of Cuckoo's Nest, Fisher's Hornpipe and Liberty which I posted earlier this month on my birthday: www.youtube.com/watch?v=snedQ5B1TMY
  31. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Nice job on the medley, Michael. Good work from Marcelyn too. Tom, could you (or some other kind person) post a link to your video? - I only have an iPod for viewing at the moment and for some reason your embedded one doesn't show on it.
  32. Chris Ferreira
    Chris Ferreira
    Looks like a busy week with lots of great versions! I'm going with one from a Dix Bruce book sans my usual (me) accompaniment.

  33. Toycona
    Toycona
    Sounds great, Chris.
  34. Michael Thompson
    Michael Thompson
    alright...here we go--finally. I've been playing almost nothing but this song for the last 2 days straight and my arm feels like it's gonna split open, but I'm happy with the results. This is a slightly toned-down version of one of Chris Thile's arrangements of Cuckoo's Nest. It sounds close to the version of off Nickel Creek's self titled album, but I think it's a bit different.

    I found the tabs on mandozine's tablEdit search.

    Played on a "The Loar" LM 700 mandolin.

  35. Loretta Callahan
    Loretta Callahan
    Wow~what a great bunch of versions of this tune. I felt lower than a dew claw on a fat St. Bernard in a mud puddle until I got to this group. I'm very much uplifted. That mandonator is something else, David!
  36. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    That's a very well played version, Sthomp. I love all the extra frills.
  37. agundrum
    agundrum
    A lot of great versions of this one here.

    Here's my attempt at Cuckoo's Nest
    Cuckoo's Nest
  38. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    more great versions - well done everyone!
  39. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    I'm back! In my favorite jammies!

    I recorded this from the notation in Fiddler's Fakebook, played at 140 along with the metronome (on my new iPhone, woo hoo!) on my Collings MT2O mandolin

  40. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    nice one Barbara, and as always your Collings sounds lovely!
  41. Michael Thompson
    Michael Thompson
    That collings does, indeed, sound nice. Very clean playing!
  42. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    This is Tosh's and my take on Cuckoo's Nest. He played his Shippey ten string mandolin (and sent me the file) and I picked my Gibson F2. I also backed up the song with my Baeur parlor guitar tuned DADGAD. The whole project was assembled in Cubase and iMovie. Hope you like it. It's a Mandolin Cafe SAW Transatlantic session....

  43. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    What a fun surprise Tosh and Michael. You guys sound incredible. Next you can give us your rendition of "It's a Small World After All."
  44. Toycona
    Toycona
    Nicely done, guys. That's some great spirit, posting a duet.
  45. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Wow, just got home from work and heard your fine efforts Michael....What can I say except thank you very much....brilliant. I'm like a Norwegian Blue......stunned!!!! Got to give Michael all the credit here as he did all the work and did a splendid job. Thanks so much Michael, it was a privilege......
  46. Mike O'Connell
    Mike O'Connell
    Michael, Tosh, - What a treat. I believe you guys have opened up a whole new can of innovative possibilities. This “Song of the Week’ group keeps getting better and better. Thanks for sharing.
  47. Chris Ferreira
    Chris Ferreira
    Tosh, Michael, what a great video! The harmony playing toward the end really opened it up. Excellent work!
  48. Jim Baker
    Jim Baker
    Nice harmonies Michael and Tosh. And very tight as well.
  49. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Well done lads! That was the business!
  50. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Michael and Tosh... that was just awesome! And, did anyone else think that ya'll look like you could be brothers?
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