23 September 2008
Silly Reason to Post
Posted by admin under: songs .
This may seem like a silly reason to link to a post, but how many of you are involved in Scouting? Right. How many have sung or heard the kookaburra song?
Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree
Eating all the gumdrops he can see
Stop, kookaburra, stop, kookaburra
Leave some there for me
I thought it was just a silly verse. Now, because I’m reading the Hiker Hell blog daily I see that this silly Australian bird song verse has a meaning. Did you know that the Aussies call Eucalyptus trees Gum trees? I didn’t. And that’s today’s silly reason to post. Of course, the family upon whom the gum tree fell didn’t find it nearly as silly.
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- GSUSA: Can’t Stop Me
- Tweet to Save a Life
- Outdoor Tip of the Day
3 Comments so far...
Walter Underwood Says:
23 September 2008 at 3:49 pm.
I learned a somewhat more authentic version:
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be
I was in Australia several years ago and kookaburras really do laugh. I thought there were monkeys on the roof cackling, looked up, and there were these huge kingfishers on the TV antenna making all the noise. The kookaburra is clearly a kingfisher, but way too big, over a foot long.
Wikipedia has a recording of their call: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Kookaburra
admin Says:
23 September 2008 at 4:50 pm.
Excellent! Ha ha ha. Fantastic! By the way, I think I learned your version, too, but I remember my version, as well. I think we blended the two for a longer song.
Now I know why they talk about the merry, merry life of the Kookaburra. Thanks!
Cici Says:
25 September 2008 at 1:39 am.
Ah yes… but to make it a true Scout Song you need the 3rd verse as well:
Kookaburra sits on the railroad track
Along came a train and smashed him flat
Poor Kookaburra poor Kookaburra
That’s the end of that!
Been singing all 3 verses for 32 years…
