Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo

Subject: Lyr Req: im looking for a song
From:
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 01:02 AM

i sang it in camp when i was there in around 1978,
it went something like this....
      
         and from a distant oak tree a coo coo answered clear coo coo ,coo coo coo coo repeated
    and from a distant forest a owl? answered clear....


also a few years later a cockney singer in another camp sang a song that went something like this...
                               Back to back and belly to belly it doesnt matter none because it doesnt matter any.... and then had mary had a little lamb veration within the song :}thank you

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 04:30 AM

The "back to back" song is called "Zombie Jamboree" (click), and a google search will find all of it easily.

Subject: Lyr Add: PETER'S FOUNTAIN
From: Bard Judith
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 12:37 PM

I can't Google-find the translation I know, but I suspect the 'coo coo' song is 'Peter's Fountain.

I believe I learned this off a record many years ago with the title of "It's A Small World" - various 'kid's songs from around the world' sort of thing. Here are the verses I know.


Oh I go to Peter's Fountain
And what do I hear?
From the misty swamp far away
Cuckoo calling me clear!

Hi lea ah...
Huldria-cu-kee-ah,
Huldria coo coo,
Huldria-cu-kee-ah,
Huldria coo coo,
Huldria-cu-kee-ah,
Huldria coo coo
Huldria cu kee ah, oh!

Oh when I am married
Then what shall I do?
I shall go to the fountain
And hear the cuckoo.

(repeat chorus, this time with two 'coo coo' calls, thus:
Huldria cu ke ah, huldria coo coo, coo coo.. (3X)
Huldria cu ke ah, oh!

I think there is one more verse that I'm missing, because the last chorus then has three cuckoo calls:

Huldria cu ke ah, huldria coo coo, coo coo, coo coo.... (3X)
Huldria cu ke ah, ooooohhhhhh.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 01:06 PM

A separate song on the face of it; though perhaps the tune would tell us if there is a connection. The song is a round, and quite well-known in various forms. I recall it from Scout camps in the mid 1960s, for instance, as

From out the battered elm tree
The owl's cry we hear
And from the distant forest
The cuckoo answers clear:
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo_
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo_

In that case, the tune resembled a sequence from The Trout. Probably there are other tunes, and maybe it is a shortened form of Judith's song.

See also thread from the fading ditto sheets, where a two-verse example is quoted with the suggestion that it's a translation from French.

Subject: Lyr. Add: THE OWL IN THE ELM
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 02:14 PM

There seem to be lots of variations on this song:

Lyr. Add: The Owl in the Elm

The owl cries from the elm tree
Soon as the darkness falls;

While from the hills in answer
A cuckoo softly calls;

Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cockoo.

"Dutch, a round"

With music, p. 17, "Chansons de Notre Chalet," 5th ed., 1971, put out for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (Co-operative Recreation Service, Inc., Delaware, Ohio, or Our Chalet, Eggertli, Switzerland). I can't find any recent reissues of this song booklet.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 04:09 PM

Seems to me that the chorus line for the first couplet should be Whoo-hoo, but none was given.

"Peter's Fountain ("an old Austrian"), a slap-knee song, here:
Peters Fountain

Subject: Lyr Add: AN OLD AUSTRIAN
From: Bard Judith
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:00 PM

The words of "An Old Austrian" match the tune I know for "Peter's Fountain", certainly... and the similarities, particularly in the syllabic chorus, can't be denied!


Once an Austrian went yodeling,
(alt. 'An old Austrian went yodeling')
on a mountain so high,
When along came a koo-koo bird,
interrupting his cry. (chorus)

Yo - Le - Ah ...
Yo-de-le-ah ke-kea, yodeleah koo-koo;
Yo-de-le-ah ke-kea, yodeleah koo-koo;
Yo-de-le-ah ke-kea, yodeleah koo-koo;
Yo-de-le-ah ke-kea, ah yo.

Once an Austrian went yodeling,
on a mountain so high,
When along came a St Bernard,
interrupting his cry. (chorus--"ruff! ruff!")

Once an Austrian went yodeling,
on a mountain so high,
When along came a dairy cow,
interrupting his cry. (chorus--"moo!")

It's obviously a camp-song version, with the substituted animal songs, and the rather facetious 'interrupting'. I'm looking for a midi to check the tune!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo
From: Bard Judith
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:09 PM

Aaaaannnnd... I found it!

http://www.christysclipart.com/campmidi/theaustrian.mid

This rather chunky piano rendition is the same melody as the one I know for "Peter's Fountain" which I quoted in full above. So - have I helped at all here? Or just given the original questor more to follow up? :)

--------------------------------------------------

Malcolm: I'd be interested to hear the tune for your round. It very much scans like yet another 'oldie from my mother', and yes, this too is a round....

Deep in the shady thicket
The cuckoo singeth clear
Awaken, little shepherd,
The cuckoo singeth clear.

Cuckoo, cuckoo, the cuckoo singeth clear!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, the cuckoo singeth clear!

--------------------------------------

so do do do mi do do
mi re do re mi do
so do do do mi do do
mi re do re mi do

so re, so re, so fa mi fa so mi
so re, so re, so fa mi fa so mi

Subject: Tune Add: FROM OUT THE BATTERED ELM
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:59 PM

Something like this, I think; so far as I can remember after forty years or thereabouts.

X:1
T:From out the Battered Elm Tree
S:Scout camp, southern England, mid 1960s
Z:from memory
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:4/4
K:C
G2|c3 c e2 e2|c4 G2 e2|d3 c d2 e2|c6
w:From out the bat-tered elm tree, the ow-l's cry we hear;
G2|c3 c e2 e2|c4 G2 e2|d3 c d2 e2|c6
w:And from the dis-tant for-est, the cuck-oo an-swers clear:
g2|e6 g2|e6 g2|f3 e f2 g2|e6
w:Cuck-oo, cuck-oo, cuck-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo,
g2|e6 g2|e6 g2|f3 e f2 d2|c6|]
w:Cuck-oo, cuck-oo, cuck-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo.


If you're not familiar with abc notation, paste the above into the ABC Convert-A-Matic for a staff notation or midi audio.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo
From: Bard Judith
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 09:33 AM

Well, well.

Your tune is the colonel's lady to my Judy O'Grady, obviously.

There is a slight variance in the melody to accommodate the syllables of the different words, and the rhythm pattern is more complex - but in essence, yes, they are sisters under the skin.   I suspect a difference in translation when the song was imported from the old country (Germany? Or Austria, as in 'Peter's Fountain'? ) which then assisted in the two pieces moving apart.

Wish I could post the melody more accurately for mine to indicate length of beat! I shall have to study up on ABC, obviously.

Thank you for making my morning more interesting,
Judith

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: MartinRyan
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 02:56 PM

Malcolm

I recall the same set from my own Boy Scout days - mid to late '50's , I suppose. Oddly, I recall first hearing a version of Lord Randall at a Jamboree in the English Lake district around that time - wonder if that's where I hear the "Out he battgered elm tree" first..

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 03:03 PM

There seem to be a lot of variations on the basic theme on websites, frequently scouting-related (very few with tunes indicated, though); I'd guess that Judith is right, and that these mostly represent separate translations rather than orally-processed variants.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 04:18 PM

Has anyone found a Dutch version of "The Owl in the Elm"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: MartinRyan
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 04:27 PM

Nah! It died off...

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 11:45 AM

From up the ancient oak tree
The owl cries, "I'm here."
And from the distant forest
The cuckoo answers clear:
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo_
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo_

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: GUEST,Val
Date: 20 Jun 06 - 04:42 PM

The round that we sang at Girl Scout Camp had one section sing "from out the battered elm tree; one section sang the "cuckoo" and one section sang "Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon, you're out too soon, the sun is still in the sky. Go back to your bed and cover up your head and wait for the day to go by." It was a great round!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: GUEST,wolfwoman
Date: 21 Jun 16 - 12:40 PM

The words I remember are:

Deep in the distant forest
Do you hear the cuckoo
As from the top of his great oak
He answers to the owl

coo-coo, coo-coo, coo coo coo coo coo-coo
coo-coo, coo-coo, coo coo coo coo coo-coo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: im looking for a song - oak tree/coo coo
From: GUEST,wolfwoman
Date: 21 Jun 16 - 12:40 PM

The words I remember are:

Deep in the distant forest
Do you hear the cuckoo
As from the top of his great oak
He answers to the owl

coo-coo, coo-coo, coo coo coo coo coo-coo
coo-coo, coo-coo, coo coo coo coo coo-coo