Kookaburra

DESCRIPTION: "Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree, Merry merry king of the bush is he, Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra, Gay your life must be."
AUTHOR: Marion Sinclair (1896-1988) (Source: Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, , Davey/Seal, WIkipedia)
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (date of composition, according to Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs)
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad food campsong
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 119-121, 130, 133, 134, 175, 346, 347, 348, 432, 438, 447, 500-501, 528, "Kookaburra" (notes, with 3 texts on pp. 119-121; bibliography on pp. 650-654)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 413, "Kookaburra" (1 text)
Tobitt-TheDittyBag, p. 148, "Kookaburra" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tobitt-YoursForASong, p. 38, "Kookaburra" (1 text, 1 tune)
ChansonsDeNotreChalet, p. 57, "Kookaburra" (1 short text plus a German translation; 1 tune)
SongsOfManyNations, "Kookaburra" (1 text, 1 tune) (CC edition, p. 44) (12th edition, p. 38)
48MuchLovedFolkSongs, p. 5, "Kookaburra" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal, _A Guide to Australian Folklore_, Kangaroo Press, 2003, p. 201, "(Kookaburra)" (1 short text)
Roud #36114
NOTES [191 words]: Although all seem to agree that Marion Sinclair was responsible for the first verse of this, most other verses are probably by others. E.g. the version I seem to remember learning, which resembles those in Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, mentions the kookaburra eating up gumdrops. But gum trees (eucalyptus), although they emit a resin called gum drops, do not produce the sort of gumdrops eaten by humans! (Or by kookaburras, in fact.) Such verses are surely American.
According to Andrew and Nancy Learmonth, Encyclopedia of Australia, 2nd edition, Warne & Co, 1973, p. 296, "Kookaburra, Laughing Jackass, or Great Brown Kingfisher is "The world's largest kingfisher... well-known from its chattering call like mocking human laughter." It is native to eastern Australia but was introduced into the west and Tasmania, so most Australians would know it. Like most kingfishers, it eats crabs and small fish, but also insects and small land mammals, birds, and reptiles -- so while it lives among eucalyptus, it does not use them for food. "It is off-white, with brown back, eye-bar and black-bared tail, with a flash of pale blue on the wing." - RBW
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File: FSWB413B

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