CHOUCOUNE
Created on 24/01/2006Latest update on 17/11/2023
Artist: Katherine Dunham et son Ensemble
Author: Oswald Durand/Michel Monléart Monton
Label: Decca
Year: 1946
Oswald Durand was a Haitian poet laureate (1840-1906). Written as a lament for a real creole girl nicknamed Choucoune; popularity urged for a musical setting provided by Monléart Monton (1893). This original tune marked a spectacular circus attraction of the Stickney & Donovan's Great American Circus troupe whereby a Prof. Colby jumped out of a hot-air balloon with a parachute, risky business at the end of the 19th century, let alone in Trinidad.
Covers:
- 1953:
- 1953:
Lolita Cuevas [on lp Haitian Folk Songs for Moses Asch with Frantz Casseus on guitar]
- 1953:
- 1954:
Lord Burgess & His Calypso Serenaders [as Choucounne on lp Folk Songs Of Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad, shortly before he met and started influencing Harry Belafonte, writing the best bits of his groundbreaking Calypso album ('56); see: Day O, Jamaica Farewell and Island In The Sun]
- 1956:
Patrick Jones [as Colby reissued on Smithsonian Folkways album Calypso Lore And Legends, first recorded in '37 in Paris by Maïotte Almaby for Odeon, re-issued on Frémeaux comp Biguine - Anthologie de la Tradition Musicale Antillaise 1930-1954 Vol 4]
- 1956:
Tarriers [as Choucoun]
- 1956:
André Toussaint & the Caribbeans [from the Bahama's; crediting Lord Burgess like most of the coverers]
- 1957:
Harry Belafonte [as Don't Ever Love Me on lp Sings Of The Caribbean]
- 1957:
Norman Luboff Choir [as Yellow Bird on Columbia lp Calypso Holiday, crediting Belafonte for selecting the songs; lyrics: Alan & Marilyn Bergman]
- 1958:
Mills Brothers [as Yellow Bird]
- 1959:
Caterina Valente [as Sonnenschein top 10 GER, with Silvio Francesco]
- 1960:
Brothers Four [as Yellow Bird]
- 1960:
- 1961:
Arthur Lyman [top 5 US as Yellow Bird]
- 1961:
Lawrence Welk [idem]
- 1961:
- 1961:
- 1961:
- 1961:
- 1961:
Ventures [all as Yellow Bird]
- 1961:
Ilse Werner [as Kleiner Fink]
- 1962:
- 1962:
- 1962:
- 1964:
- 1965:
- 1967:
- 1967:
- 1969:
- 1970:
Fairport Convention [at the Troubadour club in L.A., released in '77]
- 1970s:
- 1980:
Rex Gildo [as Zwei wie Wir]
- 1996:
Chris Isaak [all as Yellow Bird]
This 19th century Haitian melody can be traced further back to an old French chanson from the Anjou region: Non non non, je ne marierai pas. In Haiti it is also known under it's Creole title Ti Zwazo (Little Bird), inspiring the English translation as Yellow Bird.
