An Australian Folk Song A Day: The Kookaburra Song

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Kookaburra Song

Marion Sinclair

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be!

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Eating all the gum drops he can see.
Stop Kookaburra, stop Kookaburra
Save some there for me!

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Counting all the monkeys he can see.
Laugh Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra
That's not a monkey, that's me!

Written in 1932 by Marion Sinclair for the Victorian Guides.

1 comment:

UnknownJanuary 13, 2022 at 8:53 PM
Thank U, I never new that there were other verses. Again Thank U.
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The Idea

This blog was inspired by John Boden's "Folk Song A Day" blog, featuring mostly unaccompanied renditions of English folk songs.

I thought that Australia Day was a good time to start an Australian version*. While some of the songs will be previously-recorded songs, most will be recorded for this blog. I plan to use a variety of arrangement styles and recording approaches. While I will attempt to record versions of these songs which are pleasant to listen to, this is more of an archiving project than a recording venture.

I'm hoping that this will be a site where new and old songs can be gathered and where the visitors to the site will share in the rich history and texture of the lovely conglomeration that is Australian traditional song.

*Australia Day is January 26. My blog accounts time was set to UK time when I started the blog. This explains why the first entry is now marked January 27. Changing the time in February is also the reason there are 29 entries for February. You can't have too much of a good thing!