Cuckoo (live) > song book <
Cuckoo, biding her time, occasional table, lover of mine
Over dinner and bottle of wine ...

Most notable for the impromptu 'riff-off' between Kirk McElhinney (acoustic guitar) and Fluff (fiddle) on Global that really brought the song to life for the stage.

It was originally recorded for the Passion And Conflict album, and was made the 'fiddler's own' by Jamie Parkes.

There was a time when I used to write songs in 'twos', and this one was paired with a song called Over The Moon. At the time, these two songs were the 'hits' in the live set ... how times change, for it's only when there's a fiddler on the stage that this song seems to get a regular outing.

The song itself is a love song in essence, but not one to take literally about any one love affair. It's more of an imaginary meeting with Lady Nature who, suffering the demands and stresses placed upon her by 'man', appears to have lost the battle, and maybe her senses.

She is however, angry - biding her time as the song says. As there is an underlying sexual tension between man and woman, so there is also between man and nature.

One other thing is that on two occasions when I have had signers, interpreting for deaf and hard of hearing audiences, we've had to discuss the song beforehand, and agree that strict interpretation here does not work. There is too much reliance on wordplay, and so I am always happy to allow the signer a good length of artistic licence.