Cuckoo in the Clock
song performed by Lena Horne
Cuckoo in the Clock is a song with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer, and music composed by Walter Donaldson.
A popular version of Cuckoo in the Clock was recorded in 1939 by Kay Kyser & His Orchestra (vocals by Sully Mason) for Brunswick Records (catalog No. 8312).
Other versions
Mildred Bailey with Red Norvo & His Orchestra, recorded February 8, 1939 for Conqueror Records.
Benny Goodman - vocal by Johnny Mercer, recorded February 1, 1939 for Victor Records.
Lena Horne – Lena Like Latin (1963).
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – vocal by Marion Hutton, recorded February 6, 1939 for Bluebird Records.
Toots Thielemans – Time Out for Toots (1958).
Mel Torme – released on EP in 1956.
“Cuckoo in the Clock” enters the record as song performed by Lena Horne. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Cuckoo, Clock and song can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Cuckoo in the Clock” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Cuckoo, Clock and song provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5192374. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1963, 1958 and 1956.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Cuckoo in the Clock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.