Posted by Milkwood on July 17, 1999 at 08:22:27 from fnbs0414.ppp.infoweb.ne.jp:
In Reply to: Do cuckoos change their tune in June? Another rhyme! posted by Anne LeVeque on July 14, 1999 at 17:06:48:
When I read Anne's posting, I suddenly heard Bob Dylan singing the first line of the song in his raspy
voice inside my head. I said, "Hey, I know the song!" And sure enough, when I dug inside my closet,
I found an old bootleg record set that contained his performance of the song (probably taken from
what is known as the 1962 Gaslight tape).
Now I could only remember the first line of the song and the part about cuckoo changing her tune in
July completely escaped my memory (shame on me!), partly because I haven't played the record for
oh so many years since my record player got broken. But it was particularly thrilling for me to see my
favorite singer and my favorite writer getting connected in this way. Thank you, Anne, for your information.
And, indeed, thank you all for your information. Now it seems almost certain to me that Titty was referring
to the old rhyme that Robert and Patricia wrote about, which in turn was probably based on the popular
knowledge of the actual habit of cuckoos about which Alan reported.
Interestingly, when this point was discussed in the Japanese AR forum, one person (who, in fact, is a
naturalist) remembered learning as Phoebe did in high school, though actually he learnt it's in May that
the bird's voice cracks and not in June. I guess Anne was right in supposing that cuckoos change their
singing during the mating or nesting season, which may be around May, June or July, and the rhyme
specifically says it's June to make it rhyme with "tune."
Well, I guess I should really start a new thread here, but while we are on this subject of Titty's quotation,
I have another question. If you remember, at the beginning of the S&A video, Titty, travelling on a train
with the rest of the family, was saying something to the effect of, "The endless trek through Sahara desert.
See the camels bravely plod through the sand." (This may not be the exact wording. I am quoting from
memory as I have rented my video to a friend.) Well, although this episode is not in the book, I feel it
serves as a good prologue, and I always had the feeling that Titty quite typically was making a literary
quotation here. Can anyone tell me what poem she was referring to here? Thank you.
Milkwood