# Kookaburra

"Kookaburra" is an Australian round written by Marion Sinclair in 1932 for a Girl Guides competition; decades later its melody was at the centre of a famous copyright case over Men at Work's "Down Under".

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Marion Sinclair |
| First known | 1932 |
| Best for ages | 2–7 |
| Mood | traditional, playful |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/kookaburra/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
Merry, merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be.

## How to sing it

1. Learn the short four-line tune first — it is designed to be sung as a round.
2. Split into groups; the second group starts from the top when the first reaches "Merry, merry king of the bush is he."
3. Add a third and fourth group for a fuller round if the singers are confident.

## Common questions

**Who wrote "Kookaburra"?**

Marion Sinclair (1896–1988). By her account she had the idea one Sunday morning in church in 1932 and hurried home to write the words down. She entered it in a 1934 Girl Guides competition in Victoria, where it was first performed at that year's jamboree in Frankston.

**Is "Kookaburra" a round?**

Yes. Like "Frère Jacques" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", its four short phrases fit together in harmony, so groups of singers can start at different points and overlap.

**What is the connection to Men at Work's "Down Under"?**

In 2009 the publisher Larrikin Music sued the band Men at Work, arguing that the flute riff in their 1981 hit "Down Under" reproduced part of "Kookaburra". In 2010 an Australian court ruled that it did, and the finding was upheld on appeal in 2011 — one of the most talked-about music copyright cases in Australian history.

**What is a kookaburra?**

An Australian bird famous for a loud call that sounds like human laughter, which is why the song tells it to "laugh". The "old gum tree" is a eucalypt, the kind of tree kookaburras perch in.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — Kookaburra (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra_(song))
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q921813