One of Oswald Durand's most famous works, the 1883 Choucoune is a lyrical poem that praises the beauty of a Haitian woman of that nickname.
Michel Mauléart Monton, an American-born pianist with a Haitian father and American mother composed music for the poem in 1893, appropriating some French and Caribbean fragments to create his tune.
Another version of Choucoune was recorded by Puerto Rican singer Lolita Cuevas with famed Haitian guitarist and arranger Frantz Casseus and is featured on Smithsonian Folkways' album "Haiti Folk Songs" released in 1953.
[2] The song also appeared in the 1957 Calypso-exploitation film Calypso Heat Wave, performed by The Tarriers, sung by the group's lead singer, Alan Arkin.
The song continues to be popularly associated with calypso and the Caribbean, and is often performed by steelpan bands—but some versions, such as Chris Isaak's from Baja Sessions, show a Hawaiian flavor.
In the Monty Python sketch "Spot The Loony", one of the characters is named "Miles Yellowbird, up high in banana tree".
Harry Belafonte had a 1957 single release entitled "Don't Ever Love Me" that set different English lyrics (written by Lord Burgess to Michel Mauleart Monton's setting for "Choucune"), initially the B-side of "Mama Look at Bubu" (number 11), "Don't Ever Love Me" itself entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 90.