Armstrong moved with her family to Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, as a young child. She began singing in a group with her brother singing Elvis Presley and Little Richard numbers, and in 1957 joined the Stort Valley Skiffle Group which a few years later changed its name to the Ceilidh Singers as its repertoire moved towards folk music. The group founded the Hoddesdon Folk Club.
In 1963 she began working with Louis Killen and performing solo, then in 1964 she joined The Critics Group under Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger. In 1965 sang at the Edinburgh Festival "Poets In Public", with John Betjeman, Stevie Smith and Ted Hughes. Her first recording, in 1965, was at the invitation of Bert Lloyd who as director of Topic Records was putting together a recording of erotic songs with Anne Briggs, released as The Bird in the Bush.
In the mid-1970s Armstrong pioneered workshops based on traditional styles of singing. But she also was a member of the Feminist Improvising Group (FIG), co-founded in 1977 by vocalist Maggie Nicols, bassoonist Lindsay Cooper, keybordist Cathy Williams, cellist and bassist Georgina Born and trumpeter Corinne Liensol and collaborated within the accomplished FIG after 1978 also with free jazz pianist (and partly percussion playing) Irène Schweizer, saxophonist (and film maker) Sally Potter, trombonist and violist Annemarie Roelofs, flutist and saxophonist Angèle Veltmeijer and saxophonist and guitarist Françoise Dupety. In 2018, she was awarded a Gold Badge Award from the English Folk Dance and Song Society for outstanding contributions to folk music.
She worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement, and she was a trainer in social and youth work. Involved with folk and political songs starting in the 1950s, she has also performed and/or recorded with, amongst others, Blowzabella, the Mike Westbrook Band, Henry Cow, Ken Hyder's Talisker, John Kirkpatrick, Brian Pearson, Leon Rosselson, Dave Van Ronk and Maddy Prior.
In 2018, she was awarded a Gold Badge Award from the English Folk Dance and Song Society for outstanding contributions to folk music.
In 2019, she helped form a new band Green Ribbons with Alasdair Roberts (musician), Jinnwoo and Burd Ellen. In July 2019, the band released their self-titled debut album consisting of purely unaccompanied singing through Matiere Memoir Records.
The Bird in the Bush
Frankie Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the wind it did blow high and the wind it did blow low
And it waved their petticoats to and fro
They met with some young man they know
And they asked of him if he had any skill
For to catch them a small bird or two
So it's come along with me to the yonder flowering tree
And I'll catch you a small bird or two
So away to the greenwoods went they
And he tapped at the bush and the bird it did fly in
Just a little above her lily-white knee
Then her sparkling eyes they did turn round
Just as if she had been in a swoon
And she cried "Oh, 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
And we'll drink down the moon, and we'll drink up the sun
Let the neighbours say little or much
"The Bird in the Bush" is a traditional English folk song that has been performed and recorded by various artists throughout the years. The song tells a story of three maidens who encounter a young man while they are out milking. The girls ask the man if he has any skills in bird-catching, and he offers to take them to a flowering tree where he can catch them a small bird or two. They all venture into the greenwoods where the man taps on the bush and catches a bird. The maiden whose sparkling eyes turn round as if she has been in a swoon claims ownership of the very pretty bird, and they all raise a glass to the bird in the bush at the end.
While the song generally has a light-hearted tone, it can also be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of trusting strangers. The maidens put their trust in the young man and venture into the woods with him, only to have him catch a bird for them. The lyrics also suggest that the girls may have been taken advantage of by the man, although this is left ambiguous.
Line by Line Meaning
Three maidens a-milking did go
Three young women who worked as milkmaids went out for a walk
And the wind it did blow high and the wind it did blow low
The wind was blowing hard, sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker
And it waved their petticoats to and fro
The wind was strong enough to lift the hems of their dresses and show a little bit of leg
They met with some young man they know
They ran into a young man they were familiar with
And they asked of him if he had any skill
They inquired whether he possessed any particular ability
For to catch them a small bird or two
In particular, they asked if he could help them catch a couple of small birds
Oh yes I've a very good skill
The young man answered in the affirmative, saying he had the needed skill
So it's come along with me to the yonder flowering tree
He then invited them to follow him over to a nearby tree in bloom
And I'll catch you a small bird or two
Where he promised to catch them the birds they desired
So away to the greenwoods went they
They then went to the nearby woods
And he tapped at the bush and the bird it did fly in
Once they arrived at the woods, he tapped on a bush and a bird flew inside it
Just a little above her lily-white knee
The bird stayed just a little bit above the knee of one of the milkmaids, whose skin was very pale
Then her sparkling eyes they did turn round
The young woman's eyes brightened up and she looked quickly around
Just as if she had been in a swoon
Her reaction was a little extreme, as if she had momentarily fainted
And she cried "Oh, I've a bird and a very pretty bird
The young woman exclaimed with joy that she now had a bird, and that it was quite pretty
And he's pecking away at his own ground"
She explained that the bird seemed to be happily nibbling on the ground beneath it
Here's a health to the bird in the bush
The group then raised their glasses in a toast to the bird who had just flown away into the bush
And we'll drink down the moon, and we'll drink up the sun
As part of the toast, they pledged to drink to their hearts' content, even if it meant drinking the moon and the sun themselves
Let the neighbours say little or much
Finally, they declared that they didn't care what their neighbors might think or say about their behavior
Contributed by Joshua H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.