"Coo coo ca-choo"-Where does it come from?

[Spoke]

aha-

No, I am certain that it is a literary reference, to which both Paul Simon and Paul McCartney were referring. Just trying to find the source...

BTW, didn't "Mrs. Robinson" come before "I Am the Walrus"? (Which is a Lennon song, not McCartney, unless I am mistaken.)

[beefymeg]

I must make a correction: in "I am the Walrus" the phrase is printed on the lyrics sheet as "GOO GOO GA JOOB." However, in "Mrs. Robinson" itreally sounds more like "coo coo ca choo."

Do with that what you will.

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Sucks to your assmar.

[Fenris]

I'm pretty sure that the phrase "Goo-goo-Ga-Joob" comes from James Joyce. Probably Finnigan's Wake or Ulysses.

Fenris

[Spoke]

Fenris--

OK, your homework assignment is to look it up, and see if you can find the phrase in Joyce. (Ideally, give us a quote from the book, to provide some context.)

"Coo coo ca-choo" sure sounds like a literary sneeze to me.

:)

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Actually, the song "Mrs Robinson," while being in "The Graduate," was written some time before there the movie and had a different title.

The song was actually a thinly-veiled look at someone in an insane asylum.

"We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files."

"Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home."

"It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair."

Read the words. You'll see.

And "Coo-coo ka-choo," is a reference that the person is "cuckoo."

[AskNott]

An asylum? Funny, I always pictured Mrs. R's first day in heaven.The line "Heaven holds a place for those who pray" probably influenced my imagery.


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AskNott

[Spoke]

OK, this is getting "curiouser and curiouser."

I have visited several Beatles fans' web sites, and every one of them that tackles the "goo goo ga joob" mystery says that those were the last words of Humpty Dumpty. This at least proves that I didn't concoct the whole idea in my imagination.

Still, another review of Through the Looking Glass shows that old Humpty just didn't say that. Is there another source of Humpty Dumpty info that I'm missing? (Other than the original nursery rhyme, which of course says nothing about "goo goo ga joob" or "coo coo ca-choo".)

Mjollnir wrote

And "Coo-coo ka-choo," is a reference that the person is "cuckoo."

Do you have a source for this assertion, Mjollnir (say, an interview with Simon), or is it your own interpretation? I don't think Paul Simon invented this phrase, any more than John Lennon did. (And frankly, I don't think Lennon included the phrase in "I Am the Walrus" as an Homage to Paul Simon.) I believe they are both referring to an earlier literary source.

Help, O Teeming Millions!

[sunbear]

"GOO GOO GA JOOB" led to nothing new in 6 searches.All were just the Walrus lyrics, except one was cover of it and one hit was in a game called Heretic.

[DrFidelius]

Humpty Dumpty was a seige-tower repelled from the walls of Dunbar Castle by "Black Agnes", wife of the Earl of Dunbar in 1339. It fell away from the palisade and into the marshy moat. The army attacking the castle was unable to recover it.

[Spoke]

Here's a site on Joyce's influence on music, which makes a reference to "I am the Walrus". However, the site seems to say that "Goo Goo Ga Joob" is not in Finnegan's Wake. (Scroll way down for the reference.)
http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth/joyce/music/joyce.music.main.html

Where does this idea come from that "goo goo ga joob" or "coo coo ca-choo" or "koo koo ca-choo" or (insert your spelling here) was the last utterance of Humpty Dumpty? Does Humpty Dumpty appear at all in Finnegan's Wake?

We may have to call in Cecil to get to the bottom of this one...

[APB9999]

I can add this much:

In the song "I want to be loved by you" the phrase coo-coo-ca-choo appears.
I want to be loved by you
By you, and nobody else but you
I want to be loved by you aloooooooone
Coo-coo-ca-choo

This song goes back at least to the forties, and far predates "The Graduate" and Paul Simon. Sinead O'Connor did a version of that song on an anthology I own, but the song itself is pretty old. Come to think of it, I seem to recall Beety Boop singing it in an old b&w cartoon strip somewhere..... Maybe it's as old as the thirties.

At any rate, how the hell would a line from Finnegan's Wake end up in a Betty Boop song?

[Cabbage]

I was the one that mentioned the Finnegan's Wake reference in the previous thread, though I forgot to mention the words DO have the same meaning you mentioned (i.e., they were Humpty Dumpty's last words). I heard this in the book "The Beatles Forever" by Nicholas Schaffner:

...As a matter of fact, one erudite Beatlemaniac detected a clue in "I Am the Walrus"'s "goo goo goo joob" chorus; in "Finnegan's Wake" these are Humpty Dumpty's last words before he takes a fall and cracks his head.

"Clue" referring, of course, to yet another "Paul is Dead" clue. In the past I have unsuccessfully flipped through Finnegan's Wake trying to find this passage; though I did find one or more passages involving Humpty Dumpty, I never actually found this quote from him, so I'm still uncertain if this is the origin of the chorus.

[Spoke]

APB9999-

Unless I'm mistaken, the phrase in "I Want to be Loved By You" is "Boop boop be doop", not "coo coo ca-choo". Pretty sure on this one, but I will accept correction if I am wrong.

[APB9999]

Ooops! I think you're right. I'm an idiot. My memory was feeding it to me as "Coo-coo-ca-choo". Stupid brain. That's it, I'm punishing you with alcohol as soon as I get home!

[Johnny L.A.]

Could be a version of "coochie-coochie", said when you tickle a baby.

Or; it could just be a nonsense sound for use in a song. Like "da-do-ron-ron" or "shoobie-doobie". WAGs.

[NanoByte]

Anh. Some toddler allergic to doves started it all.

Ray (My litter atchour request)

[Spoke]

In the earlier "Mrs. Robinson" thread, I stated that I thought the phrase "coo coo ca-choo" in the song was a reference to the noise made by Humpty Dumpty as he sneezed, just before falling off the wall in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

I could have sworn that was right (one of those pesky "false memories"), but my assertion was challenged by another poster. To be certain, I went home and looked it up. Sure enough, I couldn't find the phrase in either Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass.

The phrase also appears in the Beatles song "I Am the Walrus". (Though the spelling may be different.) "I am the Egg Man; I am the Egg Man; I am the Walrus! Coo coo ca-choo..."
(Incidentally, "I am the Walrus" does appear to be a Through the Looking Glass reference. Maybe that's where I got the idea about "coo coo ca-choo".)

It was also suggested in the earlier thread that the phrase might be from Finnegan's Wake.

There was also some debate about the proper spelling of the phrase. Some spelled it with 'k's some with 'c's and some with 'g's. ("Goo goo g'choob"???)

So can any of the teeming millions out there tell me where this phrase does come from? If so, can you give us a cite? (Wild conjecture also welcomed!)

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"Every time you think, you weaken the nation!" --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).

[aha]

I aussmed it came from paul mcCartney in I am the walrus.. :)

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"I think it speaks to the duality of man sir."
(private Joker in Full Metal Jacket)

[Spoke]

Everybody's a comedian! ;)

This Humpty Dumpty thing is starting to look like it has no basis in fact. I am beginning to think it was spawned as a half-remembered (incorrectly-remembered) passage from Finnegans Wake or Through the Looking Glass floating through the head of some cannabis-addled Beatlemaniac wondering who killed Paul. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Johnny L.A.-

Good point on the "coochie coochie coo" possibility. That angle hadn't occurred to me.

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"Every time you think, you weaken the nation!" --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).

[Fenris]

Mjollnir wrote

Actually, the song "Mrs Robinson," while being in "The Graduate," was written some time before there the movie and had a different title.
The song was actually a thinly-veiled look at someone in an insane asylum.
Couple of points:
#1) The song was always titled "Mrs. Robinson", but you're right that it was around long before "The Graduate". It first appeared (I believe) on the "Bookends" album.

#2) I always thought that it was an drug/alcohol-rehab facility, like The Betty Ford Center. The lines about "Hide it in little hiding place where no one ever goes. Put it in the pantry with your cupcakes" sounds to me like a problem drinker with secret stashes of booze.

Fenris

[Fenris]

Spoke wrote

This Humpty Dumpty thing is starting to look like it has no basis in fact. I am beginning to think it was spawned as a half-remembered (incorrectly-remembered) passage from Finnegans Wake or Through the Looking Glass floating through the head of some cannabis-addled Beatlemaniac wondering who killed Paul. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

On that site you found (the "Joyce in Music" one at http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth/joyce/music/joyce.music.main.html )

The page writer says
According to Gregg Zion, John Lennon was a Joyce fan, and took "Humpty Dumpty's last words" from Finnegans Wake and put them into "I Am The Walrus" as "goo goo goo joob." I have not been able to confirm this yet, and the closest I can find is "goo goo goosth" from FW 557.7.

To me, "Goo Goo Goosth" is close enough to "Goo Goo G'joob" that I'm satisfied that this was Lennon's inspiration.

Fenris

[Spoke]

Fenris

The problem with that "goo goo goosth" explanation is that the particular passage in question doesn't have anything to do with Humpty Dumpty, which means that Gregg Zion was wrong on that point. This leads me to question how trustworthy he is on his basic assertion that Lennon was inspired by Finnegans Wake at all.

The other problem I have is that the similarity between "goo goo ga joob" and "coo coo ca-choo" leads me to believe that they are variations on the same phrase, and that they have a common source. Somebody give Paul Simon a call, and let's get this mess straightened out once and for all...

:confused:

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"Every time you think, you weaken the nation!" --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).

[beefymeg]

I'm not really sure that "GGGJ" and "CCCC" are related at all. They have the same rhythm, and that very well might be it.
Plus, if you were to play that same rhythm on, say, a trumpet, and then add a cymbal crash at the end, it sounds a lot like something that might have been played at the end of a variety show clown sketch.

Did I make any sense just there?

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Sucks to your assmar.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Here's another possibility:

Lennon was a big Edward Lear fan, and it's possible that it could have been from one of his poems.

I've been leafing thru my Lear, and will post back if anything turns up.

BTW, "coo coo ca-chew" does sound like something that Lear would have in a poem--just don't know that he did.