Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
The Hawk and the Crow / Two Strings on a Bow / Said the Robin As He Flew / The Little Leatherwing Bat / The Bird Song / The Bird's Courting Song (Roud No. 747) - Sung by Liam O'Connor of Pomeroy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Recorded by Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle for the BBC in 1953.
Note by Kevin W.:
This song must have been more common at one time, but this is the only recorded version of it from Ireland. It has not survived in England or Scotland as far as I can tell but is still sung in many parts of America where it is better known as "The Little Leatherwing Bat".
There's a seventeenth century broadside of it in the Roxburge collection where it is titled "The Woody Querristers", so it is quite an old song.
Song transcription:
Said the hawk unto the crow one day,
"Why do you in mourning stay?"
"I was once in love and I didn't prove fact
And ever since I wear the black."
Chorus (repeating each verse's second half):
Singing: Ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddley dum,
Singing: Ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddley dum,
"I was once in love and I didn't prove fact
And ever since I wear the black."
And next there spoke the Willie Wagtail,
"I was once in love and I did prevail,
I was once in love and I did prevail
And ever since I wag my tail."
And next there spoke the little brown thrush
Who was sitting in yon holly bush,
"The way to court I've heard them say
Is to court all night and sleep the next day."
And last there spoke the Jenny Wren,
"Do you know what I'd do if I was a man?
For fear that one would wriggle and go
I would wear two strings upon my bow."
The Hawk and the Crow / Two Strings on a Bow / Said the Robin As He Flew / The Little Leatherwing Bat / The Bird Song / The Bird's Courting Song (Roud No. 747) - Sung by Liam O'Connor of Pomeroy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Recorded by Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle for the BBC in 1953.
Note by Kevin W.:
This song must have been more common at one time, but this is the only recorded version of it from Ireland. It has not survived in England or Scotland as far as I can tell but is still sung in many parts of America where it is better known as "The Little Leatherwing Bat".
There's a seventeenth century broadside of it in the Roxburge collection where it is titled "The Woody Querristers", so it is quite an old song.
Song transcription:
Said the hawk unto the crow one day,
"Why do you in mourning stay?"
"I was once in love and I didn't prove fact
And ever since I wear the black."
Chorus (repeating each verse's second half):
Singing: Ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddley dum,
Singing: Ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddle ri-the-diddley dum,
"I was once in love and I didn't prove fact
And ever since I wear the black."
And next there spoke the Willie Wagtail,
"I was once in love and I did prevail,
I was once in love and I did prevail
And ever since I wag my tail."
And next there spoke the little brown thrush
Who was sitting in yon holly bush,
"The way to court I've heard them say
Is to court all night and sleep the next day."
And last there spoke the Jenny Wren,
"Do you know what I'd do if I was a man?
For fear that one would wriggle and go
I would wear two strings upon my bow."
