Cuckoo

Title: Tico-Tico
Composer: Zequinha Abreu & Don Marcotte

José Gomes de Abreu, better known as Zequinha de Abreu (September 19, 1880 – January 22, 1935) was a Brazilian musician and composer. Abreu was born in Santa Rita do Passa Quatro. The title refers to a bird that got into the cornmeal, but we can imagine the same kind of grousing over morning coffee at the office. It was composed in 1917 but Hollywood attention made it popular in 1937 and there are many American-style covers. In Brazilian music, "Tico-Tico" is actually a choro, which is basically a song that typically shrugs off misfortune with good humor, good tunes and fast tempos.

Lyrics:
Oh, tico tico, tick!
Oh, tico tico, tock!
This tico tico, he's the cuckoo in my clock
And when he says "cuckoo,"
He means it's time to woo
It's tico time for all the lovers on the block

I've got a heavy date
A tete a tete at eight
So speak, oh, tico, tell me if it's getting late?
If I'm on time, cuckoo
But, if I'm late, woo-woo!
The one my heart is gone to may not want to wait!

For just a birdie, and a birdie who goes nowhere
He knows of every lover's lane and how to go there;
For in affairs of the heart
My tico's terribly smart
”He tells me: "gently, sentimentally at the start!"

Oh, oh, I hear my little tico tico calling
Because the time is right and shades of night are falling
I love that not-so-cuckoo cuckoo in the clock
Tico tico tico tico tico tock!