A Childhood Song Comes to Life - Kookaburra in a Gum Tree

Tonia, what memories that brings back for me. When I lived in Roseville in Sydney, we had a kookaburra that lived in the trees at the front of our house. Every morning, about 15 minutes before the alarm went off, he would start laughing his song as if he knew we were going to have to soon crawl out of bed. It made me smile every time.

Aren't they the most adorable birds ever?

How odd, just as I was reading this, a pair of kookaburras began laughing ... a cheerful start to my morning in Perth. Actually, I live in the foothills near the Darling Scarp and here everyday there is the full ambit of birds singing away.

Beautiful bird!

I actually remember this song from watching an episode of "Barney" with my daughter when she was young. He sang the song with some young children. It was a favorite at our house.

How totally wonderful! :-)
We used to sing that song as a round, in elementary school.

Enjoyed this.

I used to love singing that song in school, thanks for the memories, hopefully it will be stuck in my head for days!

I never knew what the Kookaburra looked like! Thanks to you, now I know.

I also Googled the song on YouTube and here is what it sounds like as sang by the Chicago Children's Choir

Wow Ducks! What a great little vid.  I was so pleased to see that *our* kids choirs are made up of real children - who sing with their hands in their pockets, roll their eyes and bob along to the music.  English children's choirs are so .... disciplined....

Too bad someone decided they would look good dressed as Creamscicles... But what the hey!

 

We used to sing this song in Girl Scouts. Never knew what a Kookaburra was, thanks. Beautiful photos.

Thanks so much for posting this to
my group

Very handsome bird! Great shot. The words of the first stanza seemed familiar to me as well. Could have been Girl Scouts for me too.

I grew up in Detroit, but I had a record with that song on it and I used to play it all the time on a kid. I can still hear it in my head. :)

Great shots!

Very cool shot of that kookaburra, and yes it was a regular feature of my childhood too. Now tell us about Tie Me Kangaroo Down Boy? That was odd!

Hmmm... I'm another one who learned this in elementary school. Australia conquering the world through folksong, maybe? Love the shots of the bird. Did he laugh for you?

I learned the song at camp as a kid. I had no idea what a kookaburra was. He's cute.

PS - I featured this in If You Blinked, You Missed It.

I'm glad to finally get to see a kookaburra . Good shots.

Tonia, very cool. How old were you when you left?

Thanks for the photos to pin an image to the song, which I remember singing when I was a grammar school. It's a beautiful bird. My Smithsonian Birds of the World book places the Laughing Kookaburra in the Alcedinidae family, the same family as Kingfishers. I have Belted Kingfishers living in the area where I now live. In the last five days, I've seen them and/or heard their rattling cry every day. On Monday, I awoke to it.

Faith: Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, right?

My favorite Australian song is And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda but it's a heartbreaker about Gallipoli.

D: Sport, darn! Okay, still need backstory.

They look way too innocent for that mocking laugh of theirs.

I just wrote a long comment full of individual responses and Gather just ate it - I am too tired to try to recreate them all so here are the highlights:

- Kookaburra's are indeed adorable but also look like they can be quite cheeky.

- I had no idea that the song was so well known around the world - which I guess the bird itself is not.

- I don't know much about the kangaroo tying thing but do know that Rolf Harris is the nephew of Pixie O'Harris who was a dear friend of my grandfather's. It was always a delight to receive one of her books dedicated and illustrated on the fly leaf.

- I was 12 when I left Australia - though a piece of me has always remained there.

- My great-grandfather fought at Gallipoli and was one of the lucky ones to survive. (That's one of my favorite songs as well.)

And now I'm going to post this before it gets eaten again.

This was great! I remember singing this song, either in elementary school or with Girl Scouts. After looking it up, I discovered that the song was written in 1934 as an entry in a competition run by the Girl Guides (Scouts) and was later adopted by them as a traditional song.

Tonia- I, too, remember singing this song as a wee tot in California.
Until you posted some pix of eucalyptus I had no idea what a 'gum tree' was.

Wonderful photos and, of course, I remember the song too. I seem to recall singing it in rounds around a blazing fire on camping trips.

Kookaburras are an enduring memory of my visits to Australia. My sister used to have a hobby farm in NSW.

One of my favourite Australian songs is 'I am an Australian' Here's a version by the Seekers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSoGJQkKDYk Last time I was there, a TV advert for (I think) Telestra used an updated version of the song. MAGIC!

Tonia, I too had no idea this song was such an international hit. Thanks Janna for the girl guides info which explains that. Love the kooka on the clothes line best Tonia, that's as iconic as the gum tree these days I reckon.

Faith, a stockman, lying, dying, is instructing his friends on what to do with his stuff (mostly animals) after he's gone, for example the kangaroo should be tied down, the cockatoo kept cool and the koala taken back. the final verse though is the fun one.. "Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred. Tan me hide when I'm dead. So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde. And that's it hangin' on the shed!"
you ready? ALTOGETHER NOW!

Tie me Kangaroo Down has been going through my head for months - because I can't remember what should be done with the wallaby?  Help!

Strewth Sarah, buggered if I could remember what one correctly does with one's wallabies so I had to go look it up and stone the flamin crows, it turns out the wallabies have the very first bloody verse!   "Watch me wallabys feed mate. Watch me wallabys feed. They're a dangerous breed mate. So watch me wallabys feed."

entire lyrics, including the offensive ones later deleted for their low-brow references to Aborigines, are here.

My Mum used to sing that to me - and I had no idea it was a bird! Love your photos - you make him/her look very endearing!

Oh, you wrote an article about the bird. Isn't it strange that all over America people of my generation learned this song at home or in school or summer camp?

That song has always amused me:)

And they're such cute birds! Great photos.

Tonia, So glad you were able to go down under again. I hope all is well and you are recuperating from jet lag, I am sure. This is an awesome little bird. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

And here's another verse...I recorded the song on one of my childrens albums.
Kookaburra sits on the old fence rail
Got a splinter in his tail
Cry, Kookaburra, cry Kookaburra
Sad your life must be

Tonia, I'll skype you soon!

I'm another childhood singer of this one, but until now I didn't know what they looked like - or what they sound like!

I guess I thought the 'laugh' was a romantic notion instead of a simple statement of fact.  Silly me.