Cuckoo in the Pear-Tree | The Cuckoo sat in the old pear-tree

The Cuckoo sat in the old pear‑tree

Language: English

The Cuckoo sat in the old pear-tree.
				Cuckoo!
Raining or snowing, naught cared he.
				Cuckoo!
    Cuckoo, cuckoo, naught cared he.

The Cuckoo flew over a housetop [nigh]¹.
				Cuckoo!
"Dear, are you at home, for here am I?
				Cuckoo!
    Cuckoo, cuckoo, here am I."

"I dare not open the door to you.
				Cuckoo!
Perhaps you are not the right cuckoo?
				Cuckoo!
    Cuckoo, cuckoo, the right Cuckoo."

"I am the right Cuckoo, the proper one.
				Cuckoo!
For I am my father's only son,
				Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, his only son."

"If you are your father's only son —
				Cuckoo!
	The bobbin pull tightly,
	Come through the door lightly —
				Cuckoo!

    "If you are your father's only son —
				Cuckoo!
It must be you, the only one —
	Cuckoo, cuckoo, my own Cuckoo!
				Cuckoo!"

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• G. Ligeti

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Confirmed with Lilliput Levee, London: Alexander Strahan, 1864, pages 54-55. Also confirmed with Lilliput Levee: Poems of Childhood, Child-Fancy, and Child-Like Moods, London: Alexander Strahan, 1867, pages 51-52. The author's name does not appear anywhere in either publication. Note: Punctuation and formatting follow the first edition.

¹ G. Ligeti: "high"

Text Authorship:

by William Brighty Rands (1823 - 1882), "Cuckoo in the Pear-Tree", appears in Lilliput Levee, London, Alexander Strahan, first published 1864 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "The cuckoo", 1902 [ voice or vocal quartet and piano ], from More daisies: new songs of childhood, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
by György Ligeti (1923 - 2006), "Cuckoo in the Pear-Tree", 1988-1993, first performed 1988 [ chorus ], from Nonsense Madrigals, no. 4, Schott Music [sung text checked 2 times]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 130