Sunday, August 06, 2006

Kookaburras and old gum trees.



There you go. I've obviously hit the big time of some strange cult following, since 18% of the last 100 searches that brought people to my blog are for some variant of 'kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.' I've been noticing this for a while, actually - ever since I made a post with that title. People from all over the world - the US, UK, Europe, Japan, are searching for kookaburras and old gum trees and finding their way to the post on my blog.

Don't get me wrong - I love having people visit my blog. Anyone (other than spammers and psychotics) is welcome here. I'm just fascinated as to why so many people are searching for the song. School projects? Camp songs? Or has it attained some cult status and meaning that I'm innocently unaware of?

We used to sing it in rounds, when we were kids. It passed some of the time when going on long car trips in the days before car radios, and I much preferred to 'Three Blind Mice'.

Anyway, here are the words, for those searching for them:
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
Merry, merry king of the bush is he,
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra,
Gay your life must be.

Hmmm... they've probably changed the words in recent decades, since 'gay' has changed it's meaning. But that's what we used to sing. So, all you Kookaburra seeking blog visitors, please feel free to comment about what you're looking for.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was taught this in school (in the US), but the last line was "Tell us what you see."