More “Kookaburra” controversy as school principal removes song’s “gay” reference
”All I was doing, relatively innocently, was substituting one word because I knew if we sing ‘Gay your life must be’ the kids will roll around the floor in fits of laughter…. For example, if a boy is not particularly good at sport, they will refer to that child as gay.”
Garry Martin an elementary school principal in the Cheltenham of Australia. He made a change to a 75-year-old children’s song called ”Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” subsitituting the word, “fun” for “gay.” Sydney Morning Herald reports that Martin now states that he probably should have discussed the contextual meaning of the word “gay” with the children, and adds he was trying to “minimize a disruptive atmosphere,” not insult gay people. (Sydney Morning Herald)
On a loosely related note, the “Kookaburra” song was in the news this summer because the copyright holders of the lyrics had sued the Australian band Men at Work for using a flute rift derived from the “Kookoburra” song in their 1980s song “Land Down Under.”
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