The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #77511   Message #2734639
Posted By: Jim Dixon
29-Sep-09 - 08:54 PM
Thread Name: ADD: The Loudenboomer Bird (Hoffman/Manning)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eine Kleine Fliegel Flugel Bird
Hmmm. This is the first time I've seen a quote from this song with the word "oxenbecken" in it. I wonder if that's a reference to the oxpecker, an African bird that sits on the backs of large animals and eats the parasites off them.

I have no idea what the German word for oxpecker is. It wouldn't surprise me if the songwriter, inspired by the oxpecker, rendered it as "oxenpecker" or "oxenpecken" in pseudo-German.