Tag: I Am The Walrus

Sometimes, librarians get distracted by non-work-related stuff.

One of our librarians wanted to help a colleague who operates a trivia night competition periodically. He was working on a variation on a question he heard in a Trivial Pursuit edition, something along the lines of “Which two 1960s classic songs, released within a year of each other, both use the phrase ‘koo kook a choo'”.

Librarian that he is, he wanted to know how to “spell” the “koo koo”. While researching, he came across this:

So, he asked me, someone who has a passing interest and knowledge of Beatles stuff: “Is the line, then, as used by John, ‘goo goo g’joob’?” That, in fact IS the way I learned it. And most sources agree.

The Urban Dictionary is more catholic about this:

Coo coo ca choo

The phrase was first used in songs by artists such as The Beatles and shortly after by Simon & Garfunkel. This phrase has absolutely no definitive meaning given by dictionaries or artists such as John Lennon who first used it. The phrase has two other widely known spellings: goo goo g’joob and kukukachu. It is believed to be used in songs and in 60s and 70s slang as a phrase left to be freely interpreted by anyone based on the surrounding context it is used in. The freedom to bestow any meaning upon the phrase makes the word a statement about freedom of expression, which is a meaning in itself.

If I were doing the trivia night, I’d toss this question.

Here’s I Am The Walrus by the Beatles. Plus the parody Piggy in the Middle by the Rutles, which uses “Doo-a-poo-poo.”
And for good measure, here is Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel.

John Lennon would be 74 today, and it’s Sean Lennon’s 39th birthday.
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John and Yoko in love and on love