Observations from the intersection of Australian and American culture

Kookaburra

Earlier this week my wife and I went to see David Sedaris. For the uninitiated he is an author and entertainer that writes hilarious autobiographical stories. I have read many of his books, heard him on NPR but until this week I had never seen him live.

He was superb. One story he told was about a recent visit to Australia. I won’t do it justice here, but he described in very amusing detail about a meal he had in a restaurant in a small Australian town north of Melbourne. During the meal a kookaburra came to rest on the patio railing outside his window and he was able to go outside and feed it.

Then he stopped in the middle of this story and recounted how he used to sing the song, “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” when he was a kid. He would climb into his sister’s bed and they would sing the song for hours much to his father’s shagrin. He liked to sing it so much that he even risked a beating from his father and continued to sing.

The reason I am sharing this is that everyone assumes that because this is an Australian song that I should know it well. The funny thing is that while this song was written by an Australian it appears to have become more popular in this country. I never sang this song as a kid and neither did most of my Aussie friends, but it seems that most American kids know this song very well. Funny how nursery rhymes like this one can travel around the other side of the world and become even more popular than in their home country.

Photo courtesy of Lip Kee.

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