wsharp - Posted - 11/24/2025:  11:10:59

I'm taken with this tune but struggling to get it off of Paul Kirk's, "Tune of the Week". It's beautiful and I think would be pretty nice on the banjo. Paul's playing is wonderful, I'm just having trouble putting it on banjo. Anyone want to take a stab at a tab or recorded banjo version?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=I_uZZ3Ei...WJsZW4%3D

Bob Buckingham - Posted - 11/24/2025:  11:35:25

I play a version on banjo but this version is significantly different than the way I know it. I've worked it out in two octaves but never attempted to tab it out.

Bill Rogers - Posted - 11/24/2025:  12:04:57

Kirk’s tune is usually called “The Cuckoo’s Nest.” The one commonly called “The Cuckoo” is an entirely different tune. I suspect you’ll find at least one banjo version if you do a search on “The Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Texasbanjo - Posted - 11/24/2025:  14:12:04

There are tabs in the tab archives for both The Cuckoo and Cuckoo's Nest. Maybe one of then would be what you're looking for or at least help you learn the song.

Go here: banjohangout.org/w/tab/browse/...etter/v/C and scroll to the title(s).

writerrad - Posted - 11/24/2025:  14:50:53

Almost all you will find of the Cuckoo or sometimes called in Vernacular people called it "Cuckoo Bird" will be on the banjo. I came up in the mid 1960s when Tom Ashley version of Cuckoo was all old time revivalists wanted to play, and I had about 20 or versions of it collected, but almost all versions are on the banjo, none on the fiddle
Thanks

wsharp - Posted - 11/24/2025:  16:09:52

Thanks guys. I play the Clarence Ashley Cuckoo and also Cuckoo's Nest. This is a different tune, pretty sure.

Bill Rogers - Posted - 11/24/2025:  20:23:42

It's Cuckoo's Nest, but a different version than usually heard. Here's the more common version for comparison. 

m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJLM9R1H...HKgBwE%3D

carlb - Posted - 11/25/2025:  04:56:59

Hamblen's Cuckoo in musical notation.

chriswig.com/hamblen/tune9.html

janolov - Posted - 11/25/2025:  08:11:18

Hamblen's Collection is a music notation) collection of violin tunes, popular during the early 1800s as played by David Russell Hamblen (1809-1895) and His son Williamson (1846-1920) arranged and copied by A. Porter Hamblen (1875-1958 ?) son of Williamson. It contains several interesting tunes, among them The Cuckoo. The collection is available at chriswig.com/hamblen.html . Warning: I get a security warning when opening the site, probably because it is an old site that is not updated.

janolov - Posted - 11/26/2025:  05:54:05

I worked out a clawhammer version from the music notation, also listening to Paul Kirk. It is a starter which cn be developed in different ways. I included the fiddle part in the tab too. I play the first part an octave higher because there is a low C# that is below the open 4th string.

I will but a TablEdit file in the tab archive later.

The Cuckoo - from Williamson Hamblen