A tune written for my son Malcolm and  Linzi Searl's wedding in 2022 at Sorn Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Malcolm and Linzi's Wedding

A song my wife Caroline and I used to sing. 
A traditional love song, The Corncrake comes from south west Scotland—mentioning the town of Ayr and the river Doune which flows to the sea just south of the town. The sound of the corncrake (a harsh rasping call which might not be thought particularly romantic) has now become rare in mainland Scotland with the loss of meadow habitat. The song is known throughout Scotland and is in the Greig-Duncan Folk-Song Collection.
Sheila Stewart thought it maybe by Burns.

The Echo Mocks the Corncrake

We learnt this song from the singing of friends ( Lynne Muir, John Munro and Denis Tracey) in Australia years ago and have recently re-discovered it.  We sing it with our friend Liz Conway in our trio Midsummer Blue. Will add duclimer later as this is just a rough recording. 
Wandering the quiet lanes around the village it is hard to imagine that in the 18th-century it was the headquarters for a notorious band of thieves. Known as the Culworth Gang, this disreputable bunch terrorised locals and other villages until they were later rounded up by the law. They remain immortalised in a song by local folk musician, Stuart Marson: 'Close to the Wind'.
http://www.culworthvillage.co.uk/of-interest/the-culworth-gang/

The Echo Mocks the Corncrake

John Bushby

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