During the 2022 Will McLean Festival, five-year-old Emeline made her first major stage appearance singing the Will McLean song, “Cryin’ Bird.” It’s a song about Florida’s Limpkin, a bird that has disappeared from many areas of the state because of the loss of the apple snails that they depend on. Emeline has loved this song since she was an infant. She is joined on the Magnolia Stage by her Aunt Jessie Armstrong and a family friend Andy .
Two and a half year old Emeline Floyd joins her Aunt Jessie Armstrong and Uncle Lee Townsend to sing the late Will McLean’s Crying Bird
A favorite Will McLean song is “Cryin’ Bird” about the Florida Limpkin….a bird that has disappeared from many areas of the state because of the loss of the apple snails that they depend on. In this rendition of the song are Emeline Floyd, Jessie Armstrong and Lee Townsend who are helping to keep alive the music of the Father of Florida Folk, Will McLean.
The Florida Limpkin, also known as the “Cryin’ Bird” (Photo by Donna Green-Townsend)
Here are the lyrics to Will McLean’s Cryin’ Bird:
Cryin’ bird, your sad cry
in the night, is a cry of a lost child in fright
Cryin’ bird, are the apple snails gone
from the Wakulla River, from your home
You are sad, soon you’ll fly
far away, from the river you love
where you stay
Cryin’ Bird, as you go
fill the swamp,
with your sweet Limpkin song, Cryin’ Bird
Will McLean wrote hundreds of songs, poems and stories about Florida including, Hold Back the Waters, Seminole, Osceola, The Ballad of the Green Turtle (Conch Island), Tate’s Hell, and many others. Learn more about the Black Hat Troubadour at willmclean.com
