The Bird In The Bush reel

What a shame nobody has bothered to comment on this classic tune - a standard in all Irish sessions I’m sure. This is one of the first reels I learnt when I first started playing Irish music. Some people I know call it the Bird In The *Tree*. In bar 3 I’ve always played |EA~A2 BG~G2| or |EAAc BG~G2| but I quite like Josh’s version |EGAd BG~G2|.

Here’s an alternative that carries the feel of Dow’s third bar rolls and also makes use of the C natural giving a different tonal feel in the passing notes (I think this is pretty much what’s played on the Conhaltas Foinn Seisiun CD, although not everyone is playing exactly the same thing)

X: 1
T: Bird In The Bush, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
|: d2eB dB~B2|dBAB G2AG|EA~A2 BGGA|BG (3Bde g2ge|
d2eB dB~B2|dBAB ~G3E|DEGA B2Bc|dBAc BG~G2:|
|:(3Bcd ef g2fg|afdf gfed|Bdef ~g3b|agab ~g3a|
bg~g2 agef|~g3e dB~B2|DEGA B2Bc|dBAc BG~G2:|

You can check out the Foinn Seisiún version at http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/bird_in_the_bush/ which is very similar to Mark’s transcription.

;)

Key signature: A & G Major
Submitted on June 26th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7409

set?

Is this one of Marcus Hearnon’s tunes?

He plays it, I’m sure, but didn’t compose it.

..can mean many things these days… 11th C ago, it could take on this form:
Int én bec
ro léc feit
do rinn guip
glanbuidi

fo-ceird faíd
ós Loch Laíg,
lon do chraíb
charnbuidi

which means something like:

Blackbird sings;
Quick liquid trills from the waterside whin;
yellow-bill in yellow!

that’s my take on it, anyhow. And sorry, I meant: ‘11 centuries’ ago…

…but the theme has proved popular with poets since, not just musicians.
e.g; Augustus Young’s

Tree

I’m a beech
an elm or an oak
The sky is beyond reach
My top branch broke

When a blackbird
threw his voice to the sun
with such ease it was heard
by everyone.

and if you know the name of the poet who wrote that short one, please let me know. J. E. would be his initials (I think it was a he) and the rhyme was culled from an anthology, if I remember well.

Any Bird

The bird in the branches
sings and sings and rain
drops fall from the shaken spray.

The only song he sings
-the only way.

and if that wasn’t good or cool enough for you, hear this here one from my hero:

Birds

A bird flies and has wings
And it certainly sings

A bird when it sings is always certain.
It sings and sings about certain things,
Like flying and having wings
Or being only a bird in a tree
And free.

Free is when you are being certain
And wanting to sing certainly
About certain things.

A bird is free and certainly sings.
It sings and sings about flying and having wings
Or being always a certain thing
When it is only a bird in a tree
Singing certainly
And free.

Ray Fabrizzio

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

By the way, I love this tune!

plays an incredible version of this on The Quiet Glen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LiqM9s86oA

play video

From the playing of Fergus O’Byrne.

Third tune of his Ryan’s Fancy Arriving set, on the album Make The Circle Wide with The McGrath Family.

Variations from the playing of Fergus O’Byrne.