Sumer is icumen in.

Summer has definitely started to arrive and although I'm not really getting the benefit of it (I'm not bleating, lowing or prancing) I like the idea of it.

It's a shame, I love the long evenings; my favourite time of the year normally.

This is the oldest song in English - the manuscript was written down around 1260;

Svmer is icumen in Lhude sing cuccu
Groweþ sed
and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu
Sing cuccu

Awe bleteþ after lomb
lhouþ after calue cu
Bulluc sterteþ
bucke uerteþ

murie sing cuccu
Cuccu cuccu
Wel singes þu cuccu
ne swik þu nauer nu

Sing cuccu nu • Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu • Sing cuccu nu

And just in case your middle English is a bit rusty, here's a translation;


Summer has arrived, Sing loudly, cuckoo!
The seed is growing
And the meadow is blooming,
And the wood is coming into leaf now,
Sing, cuckoo!

The ewe is bleating after her lamb,
The cow is lowing after her calf;
The bullock is prancing,
The billy-goat farting,

Sing merrily, cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo,
You sing well, cuckoo,
Never stop now.

Sing, cuckoo, now; sing, cuckoo;
Sing, cuckoo; sing, cuckoo, now!

And the song is here, from the original notation;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoUBfYdd6Lw

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com