"Tico-Tico no fubá" (; "

rufous-collared sparrow The rufous-collared sparrow or Andean sparrow (''Zonotrichia capensis'') is an American sparrow found in a wide range of habitats, often near humans, from the extreme south-east of Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, and the island of Hispaniola (split ...

in the cornmeal") is a Brazilian

choro ''Choro'' (, "cry" or "lament"), also popularly called ''chorinho'' ("little cry" or "little lament"), is an instrumental Brazilian popular music genre which originated in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Despite its name, the music often has a ...

song written by

Zequinha de Abreu 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, São Paulo state. He is best known for the famous choro ...

in 1917. Its original title was "Tico-Tico no farelo" ("sparrow in the bran"), but since Brazilian guitarist Américo Jacomino "Canhoto" (1889–1928) had a work with the same title, Abreu's work was given its present name in 1931, and sometime afterward Aloysio de Oliveira wrote the original Portuguese lyrics. Outside Brazil, the song reached its peak popularity in the 1940s, with successful recordings by Ethel Smith, The Andrews Sisters (with English-language lyrics by

Ervin Drake Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman; April 3, 1919 – January 15, 2015) was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as "I Believe (1953 song), I Believe" and "It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variet ...

), Carmen Miranda and others.

Notable recordings

The first recording of the work was made by Orquestra Colbaz (Columbia 22029, 1931). Ethel Smith performed it on the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

in the MGM film '' Bathing Beauty'' (1944), after which her recording reached the U.S. pop charts in November 1944, peaked at No. 14 on January 27, 1945, and sold nearly two million copies worldwide. Carmen Miranda and

Ray Conniff Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United St ...

both made popular recordings of the song. The song was recorded by The Andrews Sisters on March 7, 1944 and it briefly reached the charts. The song was recorded by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians in 1956 (Decca DL8221) on the album, "A Visit to Disneyland". The

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

guitarist

Paco de Lucía Francisco Sánchez Gómez (21 December 194725 February 2014), known as Paco de Lucía (;), was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flame ...

performed this song in 1967. In 2006, the Brazilian singer Ney Matogrosso recorded a version for his album ''Batuque''. In 2009, Daniela Mercury recorded the song on her album '' Canibália''. In 2015, the Japanese band Ali Project recorded a version with new lyrics written by Arika Takarano, the singer. Other recordings have been made by: *

Alys Robi Alice Robitaille (February 3, 1923 – May 28, 2011), from Quebec City, "petite Alys" (little Alys), was a French Canadian singer mainly remembered for her later French interpretations of Latin American songs, who performed under the stage name Al ...

* Berliner Philharmoniker * Carmen Miranda 1945 *

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

1952 *

Cherry Wainer Cherry Wainer (March 2, 1935 – November 14, 2014) was a South African-born musician, best known as a member of Lord Rockingham's XI and a soloist on the Hammond organ. Biography Wainer was born in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa, the d ...

1965 *

Cristiano Malgioglio Giuseppe Cristiano Malgioglio (; born 23 April 1945) is an Italian composer, singer-songwriter, showman and television personality. Biography Born in Ramacca, Catania, Malgioglio obtained his first contract with a record label, Durium, thanks to ...

2017 * Dalida 1976 * Desi Arnaz 1947 * Edmundo Ros 1945 * Edson Lopes * Ethel Smith 1944 * Ferrante & Teicher 1956 * Ferrante & Teicher with Orchestra Conducted by Don Costa 1960 * Grant Green 1962 * Henry Mancini 1965 * James Booker 1980 * James Last 1965 * Jo Ann Castle 1957 * João Gilberto *

Klaus Wunderlich Klaus Wunderlich (18 June 1931 – 28 October 1997) was a famous German easy listening organist. Biography Wunderlich was born in Chemnitz. He played the Hammond organ model C3 then mid 60s changed to model Hammond H100. Wunderlich also tried ...

1958 * Les Baxter and His Orchestra 1959 *

Les Paul and Mary Ford Les Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife musical duo who performed and recorded during 1945–1963. They both sang and played guitars. Ford and Paul were music superstars during the first half of the 1950s, putting out 28 hit ...

1955 *

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

1956 *

Los Machucambos Los Machucambos was a music band formed in Paris in 1959. The two guitar players were Rafael Gayoso (from Spain), Milton Zapata (from Peru) and the singer was Julia Cortés (from Costa Rica) . In 1960 Zapata was replaced by Romano Zanotti (pseudon ...

1965 *

Los Iracundos Los Iracundos are a popular Uruguayan band from the city of Paysandú, active since the 1960s. Their music can be classified as rock and roll, including many ballads. History The Group was formed in 1958 in Paysandú Paysandú () is the capita ...

1967 *

Lou Bega David Lubega Balemezi (born 13 April 1975), better known by his stage name Lou Bega, is a German singer. His 1999 song " Mambo No. 5", a remake of Pérez Prado's 1949 instrumental piece, reached number 1 in many European countries and was ...

1999 *

Marc-André Hamelin Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ (born September 5, 1961), is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical proficiency of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has received 11 Gr ...

* Ney Matogrosso 2001 * Oscar Alemán 1940 * Paquito D'Rivera 1989 *

Percy Faith Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian-American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listenin ...

1974 * Perez Prado 1963 *

Raúl di Blasio Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

1994 *

1962 *

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

1958 *

Stefano Bollani Stefano Bollani (born 5 December 1972) is an Italian composer, pianist and singer, also active as a writer and a television presenter. He has worked with such musicians as Gato Barbieri, Chick Corea, Bill Frisell, Sol Gabetta, Richard Gallian ...

2007 * The Puppini Sisters 2016 * Xavier Cugat 1945

In film and television

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

the song has been used for several decades in commercials for Sico paint. In season three of ''

Mama's Family ''Mama's Family'' is an American sitcom television series starring Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper, Mama (Thelma Harper). The series is a Spin-off (media), spin-off of a recurring series of sketch comedy, comedy sketches called "The Family (sketc ...

'', episode "An Ill Wind", an intoxicated Iola briefly sings the song's chorus before passing out onto a bed. This song can be heard on various episodes of the Belgian

Kabouter Wesley Kabouter Wesley (English: Gnome Wesley) is a Flemish/Belgian series of comics and short animated cartoons about a grumpy and violent kabouter (gnome), made by Jonas Geirnaert. Both the drawing style and the content are purposely made naive and a ...

cartoon. In season one of '' Narcos: Mexico'', episode 3 ("El Padrino"), the orchestral version of the song is played by a band during a reception.

Other uses

This song was often performed by the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

during their tuning jams between songs. It was also played as an instrumental by James Booker with the Jerry Garcia Band. This song was used in ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

'' in the episode "Muscle Beach Tom", where Tom's rival, Butch is seen dancing with a female cat. This song was performed in the closing ceremony of the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. This song was adapted to the 2016 video games

Just Dance 2017 ''Just Dance 2017'' is a 2016 dance video game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was unveiled on June 13, 2016, during its E3 press conference as the eighth main installment of the series, and was released in October 2016 for PlayStation 3 ...

and

Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games, and distributed by Take-Two Interactive. The mobile port was published by Aspyr Media. The latest entry into the ''Civiliza ...

. This song was remixed with a baile funk melody during the opening of Brazilian pop singer Anitta's set for

Rock in Rio Lisboa Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

2018.

References to the song

A biographical movie about Zequinha de Abreu with the same title, ''

Tico-Tico no Fubá "Tico-Tico no fubá" (; "rufous-collared sparrow in the cornmeal") is a Brazilian choro song written by Zequinha de Abreu in 1917. Its original title was "Tico-Tico no farelo" ("sparrow in the bran"), but since Brazilian guitarist Américo Jacom ...

'' was produced in 1952 by the Brazilian film studio ''Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz'', starring

Anselmo Duarte Anselmo Duarte Bento (; 21 April 1920 – 7 November 2009) was a Brazilian actor, screenwriter and film director. Early life Duarte was born in Salto, São Paulo on 21 April 1920. He was raised by his mother, alongside his six siblings. ...

as Abreu. The title phrase also features in the lyrics to the song "O Pato" made famous by João Gilberto.

Lyrics

References

External links

61 versions of Tico Tico
at WFMU's blog * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tico-Tico no Fuba 1917 in Brazil 1917 songs Brazilian songs Choro songs Flamenco compositions Songs about birds The Andrews Sisters songs Songs with lyrics by Aloísio de Oliveira Paco de Lucía songs Carmen Miranda songs