Cuckoo, As I Me Walk-ed: A Song History

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This round appears to come from Pammelia, the 1609 collection of rounds and catches. There, No. 53, "As I me walked in a May," is listed among the rounds and catches for four voices.[1] Pammelia was published in London by William Barley and contains 100 pieces for various combinations of three to ten voices.[2] Its compiler was Thomas Ravenscroft, and its contents appear in a modern scholarly edition, Musica Britannica volume 93 (2012), edited by John Morehen and David Mateer, which lists the piece as "As I me walked in a May morning."[3]

Japanese hanging scroll of a cuckoo flying past a full moon, with lines of calligraphy above

Kubo Shunman, Hototogisu, hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, early 19th century. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the round.

Mark Gilston includes it in Playing-A-Round With Dulcimers, a collection of 28 rounds, canons and circular songs for several dulcimer players who play the same piece but start at different times.[4] The listing does not name a source for his "Cuckoo, As I Me Walk-ed," so the link to the Pammelia round rests on the shared opening words of the title.[4]

Our book that contains the song "Cuckoo, As I Me Walk-ed"

Sources

  1. Greg Lindahl: "Thomas Ravenscroft: Pammelia (1609)" (facsimile).
  2. IMSLP: "Pammelia (Ravenscroft, Thomas)".
  3. Stanford Libraries SearchWorks: "Rounds, canons and songs from printed sources" (Musica Britannica 93).
  4. Mark Gilston: "Playing-A-Round With Dulcimers".
  5. Image: Kubo Shunman, Hototogisu, hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, early 19th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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