I Like Birds 8 - The Hawk

 

As I'm sure you are all aware Hawks are  birds of prey of the family Accipitridae.They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.

The subfamily Accipitridae  includes  goshawks, sparrow hawks ,sharp-shinned hawks , and others. This subfamily are mainly woodland birds with short broad wings, long tails, and high visual acuity. They hunt by dashing suddenly from a concealed perch.

It is helpful to read the above in a Chris Packham voice.

There is no music by Penetration today so I'm not sure that Chris would approve.

We do however have Bill Callahan and Bonnie Prince Billy who he might admire with Red Tailed Hawk ( look at that!)

Joe Turner follows that with The Chicken and the Hawk. The Chicken may well feature in its own right later on in this series.

The Dove has appeared earlier in this series and here Scott Miller and the Commonwealth pair it up with the Hawk.

Finally we have Meg Baird with Mosquito Hawk. I have looked this up and it is actually a colloquial name for the Crane Fly but who's quibbling?

No Hawkwind but I couldn't resist a bit of Hamish Hawk

A little Birdie tells me there will be more next week. 

Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy - Red Tailed Hawk

Joe Turner - The Chicken and the Hawk

Scott Miller and the Commonwealth - Hawks & Doves

Meg Baird - Mosquito Hawk

I Like Birds 5 - The Dove

 

The Cambridge Dictionary describes the dove as a white or grey bird , often used as a symbol of peace

They are members of the Columbidae family along with pigeons - indeed The common names pigeon and dove are often used interchangeably. In ornithology, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones. 

There is an indie rock band from Manchester called Doves but don't worry I'm not going to play them. There was also a Scottish electronic group in the early 90's called One Dove  which featured the dulcet tones of Dot Allison. They had a song called White Dove so therefore they make the cut.

That is not the only song called White Dove. There is also a Country song of the same name which has been recorded by a number of artists including Levon Helm.

Still in country mode the next offering is the great  Wings of a Dove by the equally great Ferlin Husky.

Finally, it would be churlish in the extreme not to feature When Doves Cry by the late great Prince or as it's known in Scotland When Doos Greet.

More ornithological offerings next Friday

One Dove - White Dove

Levon Helm - White Dove

Ferlin Husky - Wings of a Dove

Prince - When Doves Cry

I Like Birds 3 - The Cuckoo

 

This week's ornithological offering is a day earlier than usual for reasons which will become clear tomorrow.

I've decided to focus on one particular bird namely the Cuckoo , The RSPB (who may become handy for this series)  tell us that the Cuckoo is a dove-sized bird with a blue-grey back, head and chest, and stripey black and white belly. Its sleek body, long tail and pointed wings gives it an appearance not unlike Kestrels or Sparrowhawks.

Then it gets a bit more nasty  - Cuckoos are summer visitors and known for being brood parasites. This means that, instead of building their own nest, the females lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, especially Meadow Pipits, Dunnocks and Reed Warblers.  Bastards!

You should all be familiar with The Cuckoo performed here by Kristen Hersh and I suspect that a good few of you will recognise  the Belle and Sebastian number.

We conclude with Lissie followed by The Cardigans

Kristin Hersh - The Cuckoo

Belle and Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo

Lissie - Cuckoo

The Cardigans -Your New Cuckoo

I  thought that I would include this video given that the scene was replicated by my normally quiet nephew when his teacher told him of for talking!

Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

I'm begging of you please don't take my man

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

Please don't take him just because you can

It would take an incredibly brave woman to steal Dolly's man and an incredibly stupid man to jump ship.

I didn't know that I had so many versions but none are a patch on Dolly's.

Apologies for the lack of a Mandatory Reggae version but I'm sure that Ernie can oblige

Dolly Parton - Jolene

Rachel Newton - Jolene

The White Stripes - Jolene

One Dove - Jolene

Candi Staton - Jolene

And some non Dolly Parton Jolene

Cake - Jolene

Jolene - Constantinople

Vintage Country Vinyl - Ferlin Husky

Long suffering visitors may recall a series called Vintage Country Vinyl running from June to September 2016. It ground to a halt when I ran out of material. The good news is that it's back courtesy of me picking up a veritable slab of country for next to nothing in my local charity shop a few weeks ago.
And the even better news is that most of the artists have never featured here before.


One who has however, albeit briefly, is the wonderfully monikered Ferlin Husky.
He is of course most famous  for the song Wings of a Dove from 1960 which featured last time round.
Nothing as famous on The Country Sounds of Ferlin Husky, a Music for Pleasure compilation which is featuring today.
Side one is pretty poor but side two starts of reasonably well with the two songs featured below. A country song about cheating - who would have thunk it!


Ferlin fact - he began his recording career using the name of Terry Preston a name he ended up giving to his seventh child.


More of the same next Sunday.







Ferlin Husky - She Cheats On Me



Ferlin Husky - Too Soon To Know

One Dove White Love

Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of dance music.
Therefore they may be surprised to see White Love by One Dove featuring here today.
Given that I am throwing in words like Weatherall, Boy's Own Productions and Sabres of Paradise you could be forgiven for thinking that you have stumbled over to Drew's or Swiss Adam's place

I quite like the single version of the song which I picked up in Portree on Skye. A Glasgow Electronic trio they feature the dulcet tones of Dot Alison who puts me in mind of Alison Goldfrapp on the ethereal album Seventh Tree.
To prove that I know nothing about dance music I have chosen one of the three 10 minute re-mixes at random to accompany the single. Cue howls of derision if I have missed out favoured version.

One Dove - White Love (radio mix)

One Dove -White Love (lonesome demo)

$Million Sellers$ - Country Favourites

Claude

Now the album may have been titled $Million Sellers$ but I managed to pick up a copy for 50p in Oxfam.

Some classic early 60's Country.

Side 1 Four tracks from Claude King - Commancheros, Big River Big Man, Tiger Woman and his 1962 signature tune Wolverton Mountain written with Merle Kilgore based on a real character Kilgore's uncle Clifton Clowers who lived on Wolverton Mountain near Morrilton, Arkansas

Ferlin

Next up is Ferlin Husky - you don't get names like Claude and Ferlin these days- more's the pity

He was supposed to be called Furland (even better!) but his name was mis-spelt on his birth certificate

Side 2 Four tracks - A Fallen Star, Just for You, Gone and the ever excellent Wings of a Dove

Claude King - Wolverton Mountain

Ferlin Husky - Wings of a Dove