Coo Coo U

Song Specific Liner Notes
ALBUM	NOTES
The Kingston Trio: Their Greatest Hits and Finest Performances	Coo Coo-U (Wheat-Lough-borough) The Trio loved to sing this Latin-flavored ditty during bus rides around the country, and recorded it for a lark. But they brought in two of the more distinguished Latin musicians of the day for the occasion: on conga Mongo Santarnaria, who scored a No. 10 hit in 1963 with "Watermelon Man": and on timbale Willie Bobo, whose playing and shouts give the tune an authentic touch. "Coo Coo-U" was the sixth Trio single to crack the Top 100 (No. 98, 1959) and was also covered by The Manhattan Transfer in their 1979 Extensions album. © 1994 The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. © 1994 The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) Ltd. © 1994 Reader's Digest Association Far East Ltd. Philippine Copyright 1994 Reader's Digest Association Far East Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Other Notes of Interest
From Bill Loughborough	The original genesis for Coo Coo You was that both Buck and I were aficionados of the music that pygmy villages made, as recorded in the 1930s. Each person had one note to sing and the agglomeration thereof created the most beautiful music we ever heard. We had a small "rehearsal band" at my Sausalito recording/drum-making studio and his 6/8 instrumental was one of our mainstays - I still have the tape! It took about a month for the muse to bite me with the words. As is so often the case (at least it was with both Coo Co You, Better Than Anything, and Goin' to California) once the words for the main theme strike, the rest follows readily. Another group, the Mugwumps (precursors to Mammas & Pappas) wanted to do it, but it was too hard for them and the Manhattan Transfer also found it to be the most difficult piece in their book. None of them (nor, in fact the musicians on the tape) could do a really smooth job of getting a flow when each word is sung by a separate singer. I still have a dream that I can get the song to Zap Mama who could do it routinely. Wouldn't that be something? Now that Mongo and Willie Bobo are gone, the real reason for the Kingstons even trying the song in the first place has disappeared. Also there are two different versions that were issued (done with differing edits but the same basic "takes"). On the original, which I actually heard on a juke box at the time, the editor had somehow put in an extra beat in the drum intro. In fact the Manhattan Transfer even were ready to incorporate this error in their version. Oh, well.

ECHO magazine:	For a little more background "on Coo Coo-U" follow this LINK to the 1960 ECHO magazine interview.

OBITUARY:	Mongo Santamaria, an internationally renown percussionist, died on February 1st at a hospital in Miami. The Cuban-born bandleader was eighty-five. Santamaria's propulsive skill as a conguero was a trademark of more than four decades of recording and performing, and punctuates his classic 1963 cover of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," an unlikely, pre-Beatles hit in 1963 that hit Number Ten on the pop charts. Santamaria may be better known in improvisational circles as the writer of "Afro Blue," a beautiful, melodic composition that worked its way into the repertoire of jazz mainstays from Dizzy Gillespie to John Coltrane. The latter took a particular shine to the song, using it as a touchstone for his developing sound: From early, faithful and pretty interpretations circa 1963 to a 1966 free jazz deconstruction in Japan. Ramon Santamaria was born in Havana on April 7, 1922. His professional start came in the city's legendary Tropicana Club in his twenties, before moving to New York in 1950. There Santamaria learned to swim in the deep end of the pool, first performing with legendary Cuban bandleader and King of the Mambo Perez Prado, followed by stints with fellow percussionist Tito Puente and vibraphonist Cal Tjader. Fusing the Latin rhythms that were practically his birthright with Americanized styles like R&B and jazz, Santamaria made his first recordings as a bandleader in the late Fifties with Yambu and Mongo. With the cover of "Watermelon Man," Santamaria found himself garnering the acclaim of his former mentors. He would even visit the pop charts once again -- a feat that, among his mentors, only Prado ever accomplished -- in 1969 with "Cloud Nine." And he recorded prolifically through the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, before slowing things down last decade. But with the success of 1996's Buena Vista Social Club album, more eyes turned to the music of Cuba. Santamaria's music drew attention four decades after its start, with the release of several compilations, including Rhino's career-spanning, two-CD Skin on Skin: The Mongo Santamaria Anthology and Legacy's The Best of Mongo Santamaria, which put a light on his late-Sixties output. "I have two sons, one's named Mongo and the other is Tito," Grammy-winning Latin percussionist Pancho Sanchez told Rolling Stone in 2001. "You know how much you respect a man if you name your son after him. Everything I do and have done can be traced back to those two men. They're my heroes." Santamaria will be buried today near Miami. ANDREW DANSBY (February 3, 2003) http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=17480&cf=7941

Covers by other artists
Artist's Name	ALBUM	CATALOG NO.
Manhattan Transfer	Extensions (October 31, 1979)	N/A

Nick Reynolds (vocal, percussion), Bob Shane (vocal, guitar), Dave Guard (vocal, guitar), Buck Wheat (bass):


Last revised: April 18, 2006.