Coucou

from You, Me and the Moon by Monica Lee

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about

How I came to learn and love this song by Monica Lee

Our family is bi-lingual with English as our first language and French 2nd.
I love to sing in both!

When I had my first child in 2009, the Vancouver Public Library had the book bag program running. At the time, each child born was given a book bag containing one board book, mine was a beautiful Mother Goose collection with the most compelling images that were endlessly fun to look at and recite with the kids, a children’s music CD and pamphlets for various programs and services available to new moms.

The CD was a compilation and one song was Mr. Moon done by Kathy Reid-Naiman. My little one and I loved it and I would find myself singing it in my head here and there.

Our family started camping in at Hicks Lake in Sasquatch Provincial Park in 2013 when my 2nd child was 2 yrs old. In 2015 I invited my friend Caitlin MacRae, a mom I had met at ‘Mother’s Unfolding’ a group class offered through Pomegranate Midwifery. She was an Opera Singer and I was a Contemporary singer songwriter. We ended up being very close friends over the years, sharing values around parenting and having children of the same ages.

That first year we camped together, she taught me this song. Along with Judy Lea my dear friend and holiday partner, we sang it as a round around the fire as it was intended and taught in Girl Guides.

Later, after I began to teach and research for Jump into Music, I was developing our lesson on The Music of France and I discovered the song was also in French. I was so taken by this and loved teaching it in my classes.

My group ‘The String Bees’ have performed a medley of the French and English versions of this song over the years and thought it would make a great addition to the other songs on this record. I hope you love it as much as I do.

According to Mama Lisa’s World – International Music and Culture, the original melody to this song was composed by Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (1763 – 1842), an Italian composer and teacher. The song, was called Il cucù - Sorgete o pastorelli (The Cuckoo - Get Up, O Shepherd Boys). Versions of this melody are found sung in Bahasa Indonesia, French, Norwegian and Polish. In Spain the melody is found in two songs with different lyrics. El cuco cana alegre and Jugando al esconite which is a hide and seek game song in which children sing three verses then head out and look for those hiding.

This arrangement is my own.

lyrics

Coucou (Mr. Moon)

Dans la forêt lointaine, on entend le Coucou
Du haut de son grands chaîne
I’ll réponds au Hibou

Coucou, Coucou,
Coucou, Hibou Coucou
Coucou, Coucou,
Coucou, Hibou Coucou

Mister Moon, Mister Moon, you’re out too soon,
The sun is still in the sky.
Go back to bed and cover up you head,
And wait for the day to go by.

'Twas on a summer's evening,
I walked the forest through
When suddenly I heard it,
A sweet and low Coucou

Coucou, Coucou,
Coucou, Hibou Coucou
Coucou, Coucou,
Coucou, Hibou Coucou

*Original melody by Italian composer Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (1763 – 1842) *English part source: "Jubilee Songbook", Girl Guides of Canada, 1971. (to be sung in a 3-part round)

credits

from You, Me and the Moon, released May 24, 2023
Coucou
Monica Lee - vocals
Marc Atkinson - Guitars, Bass, Background Vocals

Produced by Marc Atkinson
Recorded and mixed by Marc Atkinson at The Barn Studio on Hornby Island, BC
Mastered by Marc Atkinson
Cover art by Jenny Ritter
Album layout by Lyle Grant
Sequencing by Adrian Dolan
Made in Canada / Fabriqué au Canada

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about

Monica Lee Vancouver, British Columbia

A Vancouver multidisciplinary artist for over 20 years, Lee is well known for her powerful songwriting and performing in the Roots, Jazz and Country traditions as well as being a charismatic children’s educator in her wonderful program, Jump into Music. ... more

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