A-Z of Birds in Song and Film

Lindum

Lindum

Vital Football Legend
Birds in any sense in song or film titles. Any word can be the A-Z.

A - Alouette (Lark). Traditional song probably of French Canadian origin first appearing in print in a Canadian songbook of 1879. Used to sing it at primary school.
 
E Where EAGLES Dare - 1968 film set in the 2nd World War based on the Alistair MacLean book. Lots of 'stars' in it including Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton, Patrick Wymark.
 
F - Pretty FLAMINGO - a Manfred Mann song released in 1966. Saw the remaining members - plus some! at Rotherham Civic Theatre a couple of years ago. Paul Jones was just as smiley and their music has evolved. They were great!
 
sixpence said:
F - Pretty FLAMINGO - a Manfred Mann song released in 1966. Saw the remaining members - plus some! at Rotherham Civic Theatre a couple of years ago. Paul Jones was just as smiley and their music has evolved. They were great!
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I remember being shocked when PJ left the group to be an actor in 1966. Saw him in a strange film in the late 1960s with Jean Shrimpton.
 
G - Goosey Goosey Gander. Another classic folk song/nursery rhyme from primary school. Apparently first published version was in London in 1784. They don't make 'em like that anymore; loved the bit about throwing the old man down the stairs because he wouldn't say his prayers!
 
Some of those nursery rhymes are a bit blood-thirsty!

Never knew "aloutte" meant "lark". I assumed that it meant "chicken" or "cockerel" or something similar (even though I passed O-level French, I never bothered looking it up). I seem to remember that the French fans used to sing the song before releasing a cockerel onto the pitch at Twickenham before England v France rugby union games. That may have confused me!
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H HUMMINGBIRD - several songs of that title, including a guitar-picking country instrumental from folky US composer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Yasmin Williams (2024). Quite like it. Clip on YouTube.
 
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Lindum said:
I remember being shocked when PJ left the group to be an actor in 1966. Saw him in a strange film in the late 1960s with Jean Shrimpton.
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Yes, it was called Privilege. Science Fiction meets a laugh here and there with singing. He sang 'I've been a bad, bad boy' in it.
 
K - Kookaboora (aka Kookaboora Sits Under the Old Gum Tree). Australian nursery rhyme and round written by Marion Sinclair in 1932. The song is still under copyright and the holders successfully sued Men At Work for using part in a flute riff in Down Under.
 
L (The) LARK in the morning (medley) . Irish jig type track from Fairport Convention , which appears on their critically aclaimed album "Liege and Lief" (1969), and is a showpiece for Dave Swarbrick's fiddle playing. Got the album on vinyl and saw them play it live back in the 1970's. Clip on YouTube. I am reliably informed that "alouette" is the French word for "lark" - see opening post.
 
N - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square. British romantic popular song published in 1940 and recorded by many including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Vera Lynn and Rod Stewart.
 
... or... "Nightingale" - single released by pub-rock/country-rock band Brinsley Schwarz in 1972. Vocals by Nick Lowe. Haven't got the single but I have got the track on a compilation album. Clip on YouTube.
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O (The) OSTRICH - Dance-craze parody/tribute single from US band, The Primitives, which featured a young Lou Reed (1964). It's got a garage-punk sound to it, and a readily identifiable Lou Reed riff. Only just found it. .Quite like it. Clip on YouTube.

Although he was cynical about protest campaigns in the USA, he was sort of "ecology rock" himself - only ever using one riff to leave more for future generations to use (BLAM , BLAM, Sweet Jane, etc.). ;)
 
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