Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Bonny Briar Bush (Roud No. 1506) / Hi The Cuckoo / The Cuckoo's Nest (Roud No. 5407) - Sung by Betsy Whyte (Bessie Townsley), a Traveller of Montrose, Angus, Scotland. Filmed and recorded by David Kotyk as part of the John D. Niles folklore research team for the "Scottish Voices" project at an informal ceilidh held in a rented house in Auchtermuchty in August 1986. Betsy's husband Bryce Whyte and their friends Duncan and Linda Williamson were also present during the recording. Betsy had come to Auchtermuchty that summer to compete in the Festival competition in Women's Storytelling.
The original movie can be watched here:
https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AOEECYP4YMJEAG9D
A short biography of Betsy Whyte can be read here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/3523?l=en
Betsy Whyte's autobiography, "The Yellow on the Broom" (1979), is well worth reading for the thoughtful insight into Traveller life and customs and a way of living that has now mostly disappeared.
I used my knowledge on video editing to share the films on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with the University of Wisconsin which houses the John D. Niles Collection.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover these videos of Scotland's great tradition bearers in the John D. Niles Collection. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
"The Cuckoo's Nest" is an infectiously catchy, mildly bawdy, traditional Scottish song which became well known in the British Folk Revival through a recording of Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen. I think lots of people learned it from Jeannie's singing. But this is another traditional version by a great, underrated singer. Betsy Whyte never saw herself as a "singer" singer. But she knew plenty of fine songs and I think her singing was beautiful.
A kailyard is a cabbage patch.
Song transcription:
Chorus:
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest,
I'll give anyone a shilling and a bottle o the best
If he'll ruffle up the feathers of the cuckoo's nest.
There's a wee briar bush in oor kail yaird
There's a wee briar bush in oor kail yaird
And in ahint the bush, oh, there is a lad and lass
And they're busy busy harrying the cuckoo's nest.
Chorus
I met him in the morning, I took him there at night,
He'd never been that way before, I had to keep him right,
He never would have found it, he never would have guessed
If I had nae showed him where tae find the cuckoo's nest.
Chorus
I showed him where to find it, I showed him where tae go
Through the brambles and the prickles where the wee cuckoos grow,
From the moment that he found it, he wouldn't let me rest,
Till he ruffled up the feathers of the cuckoo's nest.
Chorus
It's feathered and it's prickled and it's prickled all around,
It's tucked up in a corner and it isn't easy found,
"Young man I think you're blundering" — he said, "It isn't true,"
But he left me with the makins o a wee cuckoo.
Chorus:
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest,
I'll give anyone a shilling and a bottle o the best
If he'll ruffle up the feathers of the cuckoo's nest.
The Bonny Briar Bush (Roud No. 1506) / Hi The Cuckoo / The Cuckoo's Nest (Roud No. 5407) - Sung by Betsy Whyte (Bessie Townsley), a Traveller of Montrose, Angus, Scotland. Filmed and recorded by David Kotyk as part of the John D. Niles folklore research team for the "Scottish Voices" project at an informal ceilidh held in a rented house in Auchtermuchty in August 1986. Betsy's husband Bryce Whyte and their friends Duncan and Linda Williamson were also present during the recording. Betsy had come to Auchtermuchty that summer to compete in the Festival competition in Women's Storytelling.
The original movie can be watched here:
https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AOEECYP4YMJEAG9D
A short biography of Betsy Whyte can be read here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/3523?l=en
Betsy Whyte's autobiography, "The Yellow on the Broom" (1979), is well worth reading for the thoughtful insight into Traveller life and customs and a way of living that has now mostly disappeared.
I used my knowledge on video editing to share the films on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with the University of Wisconsin which houses the John D. Niles Collection.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover these videos of Scotland's great tradition bearers in the John D. Niles Collection. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
"The Cuckoo's Nest" is an infectiously catchy, mildly bawdy, traditional Scottish song which became well known in the British Folk Revival through a recording of Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen. I think lots of people learned it from Jeannie's singing. But this is another traditional version by a great, underrated singer. Betsy Whyte never saw herself as a "singer" singer. But she knew plenty of fine songs and I think her singing was beautiful.
A kailyard is a cabbage patch.
Song transcription:
Chorus:
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest,
I'll give anyone a shilling and a bottle o the best
If he'll ruffle up the feathers of the cuckoo's nest.
There's a wee briar bush in oor kail yaird
There's a wee briar bush in oor kail yaird
And in ahint the bush, oh, there is a lad and lass
And they're busy busy harrying the cuckoo's nest.
Chorus
I met him in the morning, I took him there at night,
He'd never been that way before, I had to keep him right,
He never would have found it, he never would have guessed
If I had nae showed him where tae find the cuckoo's nest.
Chorus
I showed him where to find it, I showed him where tae go
Through the brambles and the prickles where the wee cuckoos grow,
From the moment that he found it, he wouldn't let me rest,
Till he ruffled up the feathers of the cuckoo's nest.
Chorus
It's feathered and it's prickled and it's prickled all around,
It's tucked up in a corner and it isn't easy found,
"Young man I think you're blundering" — he said, "It isn't true,"
But he left me with the makins o a wee cuckoo.
Chorus:
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest
Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest,
I'll give anyone a shilling and a bottle o the best
If he'll ruffle up the feathers of the cuckoo's nest.
