Simon Armitage and LYR on Cuckoo Day in Marsden
Folk on Foot
Matthew Bannister
4.8 • 526 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and his band LYR perform poems and music inspired by the stories told by the people of the West Yorkshire Village of Marsden, where Simon grew up. It’s all part of the annual “Cuckoo Day” festival in the village, celebrating the myth that local people thought they could keep the spring going all year round if they could only capture a cuckoo. Amongst the poetry there are outbreaks of morris dancing, organ playing and the emotional story of a mangle.
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Find out more about LYR https://www.lyrband.com/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of Folk on Foot. |
| 0:03.5 | Before we start, I just wanted to share a brief message. |
| 0:07.0 | If you like what we do, we really need your support to keep going. |
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| 0:30.7 | an ad-free version of all our episodes and an email postcard from me each time we go on a walk. |
| 0:36.5 | If you just want the ad-free version, |
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| 1:04.0 | So thank you and enjoy the walk. |
| 1:10.8 | One, two, three, four. |
| 1:13.6 | One, two, three, four. |
| 1:17.6 | Woo! I'm in the West Yorkshire village of Marsden, and there's a party going on. |
| 1:38.3 | There's music playing back behind me, and just in front of me there's some Morris dancing. |
| 1:44.6 | And that's because today is Kuku Day, |
| 1:47.9 | which is a festival in the town, |
| 1:50.7 | and you see signs of that bird everywhere you go. |
| 1:55.8 | And just coming up here, |
... |
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