I came of age with this band. "Drink down the moon" was always my favorite song by them. Great players with honest feel. The voice of MP is one of God's gifts to us all. Bless 'em.

Maddy is on fire on this song - I've always loved her most with the slow and slightly saucy songs.....

Grew up In the UK listening to Steeleye Span, in the 70's and still love their music.

What a Voice , sung with feeling & superb timing Maddy just knows her craft so well one of the best if not the best , Long live Maddy !!!!!

I've often thought my DNA remembers, too! Love bagpipes, tin whistles, all those old songs and growing up in the southern United States, there's no cultural reason why I should. My Irish grandmother would say, 'Sure, it's in the genes now, isn't it?'

That voice! Still intact, still perfect after all those years.

I remember so vividly how I played this song almost non-stop as I sat in a seedy flat in Stockwell reading 'The Magus' by John Fowles. It seemed to fit so perfectly to the mood of the book. It still makes me shiver, forty years later.

maddie is my spiritual guide! her voice brrings paradise every day!!

RIP ...Tim....respect man ...much respect.....

Maddy is just brilliant, and there's nothin' left to say!!!!!!

Been looking for this song for ages. Great. Amazing voice still.

Never in my life have I ever been quite so moved by a piece of music/performance as this. Simply stunning.

Thanks for posting...saw them in their haeyday in Glasgow Apollo about 1974...still one of my fave concerts!

Maddy Prior--need I say more? Brilliant band then and now!

Incredible. That's all I have to say...

Maddy brings chills to my spine....she sings so divine. She is my muse.

Say what you will about the singer but the drummer is beyond Godlike.

Her voice sounds to have acquired a certain quality as she aged. It's now different than it was thirty years ago. Both are beautiful in their own sense.

Une musique d'une rare intelligence !..Depuis plus 45 ans ,que de souvenirs ,ces gens sont des bienfaiteurs..Szchimmel

thanks Dawn and Wynn...thank you Colin...

This band has always been great whatever the lineup. Makes me happy no matter my mood. Don’t forget the collabs with the marvelous June Tabor.

What a beautiful song

she still has the voice of a young woman.. amazing!

Luv this tune and had forgotten just how terrific this group is. Maddy as ever is/was just superb, but really all of them are such a magical combination... thank you for posting this! Although geez, now it makes me wanna go out and learn the fiddle! ;-p

Was listening to the studio version of this the other day, but this is amazing! Maddy's voice has aged beautifully!

I've heard Isla Cameron's a capella version ("The Bird in the Bush") and love SES's instrumentals and vocals (praise Maddie!). It is lush and gorgeous.

"Three maidens a-milking did go Three maidens a-milking did go And the wind it did blow high And the wind it did blow low It tossed their petticoats to a fro They met with some young man they know They met with some young man they know And they boldly asked him if he had any skill To catch them a small bird or two Oh yes, I've a very good skill Oh yes, I've a very good skill And it's come along with me to yonder flowering tree And I'll catch a small bird or two So off to the green woods went they And it's off to the green woods went they And he tapped at the bush and the bird it did fly in A little above her lily white knee Her sparkling eyes they did turn around Just as if she had been all in a swoon And she cried "I've a bird and a very pretty bird And he's pecking away at his own ground" Here's a health to the bird in the bush Here's a health to the bird in the bush And we'll drink up the sun, we'll drink down the moon Let the people say little or much There is a thorn bush in our Cale yard There is a thorn bush in our Cale yard At the back o'thorn bush there lays a lad and lass And they're busy busy fairing at the cuckoo's nest Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest I'd give anybody a shilling and a bottle of the best That'll rumple up the feathers in the cuckoo's nest It is thorn and it is prickle, it is compassed all around It is thorn and it is prickle, and it isn't easy found She said young man you blunder and I said it isn't true And I left her with the makings of a young cuckoo Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest Hi the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hi the cuckoo's nest I'd give anybody a shilling and a bottle of the best That'll rumple up the feathers in the cuckoo's nest"

Just super. Wonderful voice and superb backing. Brings me back to the '70's.

Ohh! Goosebumps!

Always loved this track, and the denouement!

Yes, was listening to the much earlier version off their album, and I'm convinced her voice has become even better, richer and more sonorous with time! With such dramatically changing moods, it's also probably my fav SES song (though kinda hard to choose)!

Beautiful song (y)

Maddie makes a great cup of tea

The best band of the last thousand years

Used to play fiddle in Hastings sometimes with Pete Knight when I was a kid- This is one of my favourite songs....I need to practise again methinks!

This is fantastic! thank you so much for posting. I've been a fan of this band for 30 years.

I'd agree. I was in the other room, and thought "this sounds even better than the version I already have in my playlist". I come out and see that it's a live recording made years later. Go figure.

TOTALLY AWESOME !

Everything about this is superb from beginning to end, but I particularly like the violin.

These guys are so lucky to have Maddy as their singer!

very very well..................................................................

Magical.

This performance is so dark and deep and old, it vibrates in the gut. The heart of the Celts..

they still got that magick, zanies

Beautiful song❤

A bit more rock-ish than most of their stuff. Very nice.

Greatest!!!

Maddie dances!

Razaak666: her name is Maddy Prior. Check out all the rest of the Steeleye Span ouvre!

Beautiful

Wish I was there.

Now We Are Six, 1988.

I love the way some people don't realise what the words really mean. Innocents!

Brilliant

The arrangement....!!!

What a joyful end.

@smokindog It was Ian Anderson. Bowie played sax on one track.

@Pangael i would agree totally !

What music is made of.

From country crumpet to dinner lady. Time has been so kind to the gorgeous Maddy!

@Pangael My nan used to say 'athair a labjraionn gaeilge, ta tu Gaeilge'- if your father (ie ancestor) speaks irish, you're Irish too.

Can anyone tell me what year this was performed?

A bit rude as well :-) Great stuff though. What a wonderful voice MP has. I also like the bass playing - very precise.

great song - what album is it off?

Nah, 'tis naught to do with DNA. It's just that this type of music happens to be intrinsically awesome, so that anyone with taste buds (not many people these days) enjoys it.

When was this video made?

These harmonies blow my head off. Are they playing untempered? It sure sounds that way to me, but the bass and guitar have frets...

What's the singer's name? She's amazing!

Modern, more enlightened version: "We consensually agreed to co-create a young cuckoo"?

Your remarks about the "Cukoo's Nest" segment of this viddy may be the stupidest thing I've ever heard come from an allegedly adult human being. The idea is to preserve old folks songs, and that does NOT mean filtering them through today's sensibilities. The song is a couple of hundred years old. I hope you'll get some sense of what history is, and how important it is to preserve it -- including the music.

your grandmother is right. ;)

one more drink will ruin everything...

Maddy is still wonderful For a comparison, listen the the 17 year old Mayranne Faithful and the 50 Something singing as Tears Go By

@DaMuttzNutz "Steeleye are in the business of keeping those ancient folk songs alive" This wasn't true in regard to the Steeleye of the 1970s. The folksy pop they produced was far removed from traditional folk music. In fact after their first couple albums, they wrote most of their songs themselves, just loosely based on folkloric material. I suppose my point is, if little else about the music is traditional, why retain the (unfortunate) traditional sexist attitudes of the past?

Maddy's singing here is even better than in the original Steeleye Span recording. Lovely stuff, apart from the "makings of a young cuckoo" sexist bit that could easily be discarded in the interests of sexual equality etc. Folk music is supposed to evolve - this doesn't just mean adding drums and bass. Now for the LGBt version :)

Not even all that subtle really...

I think Maddys voice has only gotten better over the years. But I still think her dress sense sucks ;)

@DaMuttzNutz *shrug* If you're happy with folk songs merely being museum pieces preserving social attitudes of the past, then fine. But if you want people to warm to such songs as relevant music for today, then it would be a good idea to leave out the sexist crud.

I like allison gross, the lady singer does nothing for me at all... the male voice rounds it out if you know what songs a male sings please message them to me