R. O. pre-K.

Finally, the songs about chickens!!!

A few weeks ago when I picked my daughter up from school, she brought me into one of the first grade classrooms to show me the results of the latest “chicken project.” Every year, a local farmer brings half a dozen chicken eggs to each first grade class for them to incubate. I remember her being so excited about this last year when her class was responsible for helping the eggs hatch…they even made a cool video of all the kids playing with the newborn little chickies. She loved the experience so much that she made sure to track the progress of this years eggs and couldn’t wait to show me the new hatchlings. Being a sucker for chickens (don’t ask me why, but I almost started a blog called “Songs About Chickens”) I thought it was really cool to see the fluffy little squawkers up close. Of course, my brain then started churning with all the chicken themed songs that I could post here…

“Little Red Rooster” by Willie Dixon
From the album I Am The Blues
Written by Willie Dixon, 1961
“Little Red Rooster” lyrics

Willie Dixon is probably the best-known unknown blues musician ever. He worked as the house producer and bass player for Chess Records, but will be forever remembered for writing innumerable classic blues songs for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, and others. Years later, these songs would be covered by The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Yardbirds, The Allman Brothers, Captain Beefheart, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck, Otis Redding, Eric Clapton and countless others. In many ways, Willie Dixon is one of the fathers of rock and roll music.

“Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens” by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five
From the compilation The Best of Louis Jordan
Written by J. Whitney & A. Kramer, 1946
“Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens lyrics

As we have mentioned before, between 1940 and 1952, Louis Jordan had fifty-four top ten hits, including 18 number one songs. One reason for this is probably because his sense of humor was amazing; so many of his songs are so hysterically funny you can’t help but listen to them again and again.

“Do The Funky Chicken” by Rufus Thomas
From the compilation The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles - Volume 2, 1968-1971
Written by Rufus Thomas, 1971
“Do the Funky Chicken” lyrics

In a previous post, Rufus Thomas showed us how to walk the dog…this time he’s here to teach us how to do the funky chicken. In the 90’s, he teamed up with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion to combine the two into the “Chicken Dog.”

“Feather Pluckn’” by The Presidents Of The United States of America
From the album The Presidents Of The United States Of America
Written by Chris Ballew, 1995
“Feather Pluckn” lyrics

These guys are a lot of fun, with a bunch of goofy songs about insects and bugs.

“Chicken Shack” by Amos Milburn
From the compilation Loud, Fast and Out of Control
Written by A. Milburn & A. L. Cullum, 1947
“Chicken Shack” lyrics

Amos Milburn originally released this song in 1947, but this is a faster, more rocking version that he put out in 1957. Have you ever eaten the last part that jumped over the fence? Strangely enough, it’s kind of tasty!

“Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ but a Bird” by Cab Calloway
From the compilation Are You Hep To The Jive?
Written by Babe Wallace, 1940
“Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ but a Bird” lyrics

Cab Calloway shared the honor of being the house band for the famous Cotton Club in Harlem with Duke Ellington. At one point, his band featured future jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie. However, after an infamous concert where his own band pelted Calloway with spitballs, he fired Gillespie, assuming that he was the ringleader of the incident. So kids, don’t shoot spitballs at anyone, it could be a life altering experience!

“Chicken Reel” by Snuffy Jenkins
From the compilation American Banjo Three Finger and Scruggs Style
Written by Joseph M. Daly, 1910
This is an instrumental version with no lyrics. Lyrics were written for it in 1911, but frankly, it is best known as an instrumental.

This is a classic bluegrass song that has been used in a bunch of cartoons whenever they need music for a scene with chickens.

“Chick-Inn” by the Gories
From the album I Know You Fine, But How You Doin’?
Honestly, I’m not sure who wrote it, most likely The Gories as a group, 1990
“Chick-Inn” lyrics

While this may not be the best song in the world, for some reason, it is one of my favorites. The Gories were a group that didn’t let their lack of talent discourage them from starting a band…as a matter of fact, it almost became a point of pride that that they couldn’t play very well. Despite their shortcomings, they had a knack for picking great songs to cover and playing them with all their heart. “Chick-Inn” is actually an original song of theirs and a tribute to an actual drive in restaurant in Ypsilanti Michigan. God knows the singer sounds like a drowning cat, but it makes me want to get in a car and go get a hammy sammy and a strawberry banana milkshake. Just think, if the Gories can start a band, so can you!

As an aside, I think I’m going to stop noting who wrote each song that I post. While I’m sure some of you may appreciate this information, I spend an inordinate amount of time tracking down the proper writing credits for each song, Personally, I think it is more important to spend the time transcribing the lyrics for each song than to figure out who wrote them.