Welcome to the ‘Spoils of the Hunt’ Blog
2nd October 2024: This Song Hunt investigates the (almost certainly NOT medieval) origins of the folksong The Cutty Wren, pondering the vexed question of ancient origins (as usual), reflecting on the symbolism of wren-hunting rituals, probing the tenuous links between the rebellious folksong and 14th-century Peasants’ Revolt… and wondering how in the hell anyone on this earth could ever ever ever in a million squillion years EVER contemplate hunting and killing something as charming and sweet and utterly innocuous as a darling little wren… even symbolically… even in the form of a stuffed toy on a stick. 🐦🥺
Video
Some of my favourite arrangements of The Cutty Wren and other wren-related songs
- Steeleye Span singing the Wren Boys’ song
- You Are Wolf (Kerry Andrew): W R E N
- You Are Wren: Little Wren (The Cutty Wren)
- Chumbawumba: The Cutty Wren
- Johnny Flynn, Robert Macfarlane, Héloïse Tunstall-Behrens, and Luisa Gerstein
- Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbeck (1969)
- And, would you believe, it’s the territorial song of Tristan da Cunha?!
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Enjoy this gorgeous wren…