KOOKABURRA SITS IN THE OLD GUM TREE
Created on 08/02/2010Latest update on 15/02/2024
Artist: Marion Sinclair
Author: Marion Sinclair
Year: 1934
Australian children song written by a teacher from Adelaide for a Girl Guides Jamboree. Both kookaburra bird and gum tree are like national symbols down under and so is the song, teached in every local classroom. Copyright was settled in 1975, sold to the Larrikin music publishing company in 1990 for $6.100.
Covers:
- 1981:
Men At Work [tiny piece of the flute riff in Down Under, n°1 AUS, UK & US; it's like a catalogue of all things typically Australian and not only in the lyrics: flautist Greg Ham adds his part with a bit of the Kookaburra tune, which he probably considered to be public domain; the fact the official clip of Down Under shows Greg soloing on a branch in a tree (gum tree?) was an extra argument for the Larrikin company to sue, successfully]
Conclusion of Colin Hay, coauthor of Down Under: "opportunistic greed is the winner", conclusion of newspaper The Australian: "clearly, culture has moved too fast for the law" and that's exactly how the local public opinion reacts, including fellow songwriters.
