Weekends in Paradelle

Cuckoo, AP photo/Mark Hamblin, RSPB/PA

“Sumer Is Icumen In” is a traditional English round, and possibly the oldest such example of counterpoint in existence. The song’s title might is usually translated as “Summer has come in” or “Summer has arrived” – but I kind of like “Summer is coming in.”

You remember a round, right? It’s a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody (and may continue repeating it indefinitely), but with each voice beginning at different times so that different parts of the melody coincide in the different voices, but nevertheless fit harmoniously together. You sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in some childhood music class, I’m sure.

And summer is coming in today, so sing out loud…
(here’s the modern English version – for a challenge, feel free to try the Middle English lyrics)

Summer is a-coming in,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow
blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!
The ewe bleats after the lamb
The cow lows after the calf.
The bullock stirs, the stag farts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing,
cuckoo;
Don’t you ever stop now,

Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.
Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!

Stag Scaffolding Sculpture by Ben Long
at Oakmayne building site, Elephant Road, London

I bet you were surprised that “bucke uerteþ” is translated as “the stag farts”, but that’s the current consensus rather than “the buck-goat turns.” The stag farting is supposed to be a sign of virility indicating the stag’s potential for creating new life, echoing the rebirth of Nature from the barren period of winter. Uh huh.

On the astronomical side, my northern hemisphere, today is the longest day of the year. The Sun is farthest north.  (In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged.) The summer solstice marks the first day of summer, and the declination of the Sun is known as the Tropic of Cancer. The time that will elapse between sunrise and sunset today is the maximum for the year, so get out there and make the most of it!