
Lyrics
(African American folk song)
Class:
Here comes one Johnny Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo
Here comes one Johnny Cuckoo
On a cold and stormy night
What did you come for, come for, come for,
What did you come for
On a cold and stormy night
Johnny:
I come for me a soldier, soldier,
I come for me a soldier
On a cold and stormy night
Class:
You look too ragged and dirty, dirty dirty,
You look too ragged and dirty
On a cold and stormy night
Johnny:
I’m just as good as you are, you are, you are,
I’m just as good as you are
On a cold and stormy night
Game
Formation: Students stand in a line facing one student, who is “Johnny Cuckoo.”
Students and Johnny Cuckoo sing back and forth to each other. (See video below.) At the end of the song, Johnny Cuckoo chooses another student, and both of them start the song again, singing “We” instead of “I.”
See also
- Culture: African American
- Activities: games
- Form: call & response
- Harmony: chords I, ii, V
- Melody: solo singing / D,E,G,A,B,C’
- Meter: 2
- Scale: hexachord
- Tones: drmfsl
- Source: 150 American Folk Songs to sing read and play, Peter Erdei, 1974
- info about the song
YouTube
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody

