"Do the Funky Chicken" is a song written and recorded by American R&B singer and entertainer

Rufus Thomas Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Re ...

for

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

in 1969. The song was used as the title track of Thomas' 1970 LP, ''Do The Funky Chicken''. It became one of his biggest hits, reaching number 5 on the R&B chart in early 1970, number 28 on the US pop chart, and number 18 in Britain where it was his only chart hit.

Background

The record was one of a series of novelty dance hits for Thomas. He improvised the song after performing with Willie Mitchell's band at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, developing it further at a gig in Covington. Thomas said:

I did it in the middle of doing another song... and the words just started to come. I don't know how, they just came out of the blue. I just separated it. 'You raise your left arm up, and your right arm too.' When you're doing the funky chicken you use both arms. You don't just use one. It just happened I separated it. Then I put a little rhythm in between it. The same pattern that you heard on 'The Dog' is here on 'The Funky Chicken' but it is cut in half. That's how it came about.

Thomas added a spoken word section that he regularly used as a ''

shtick A shtick is a comic theme or gimmick. The word entered the English language from the Yiddish ''shtik'' (שטיק), related to German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germa ...

'' as a radio DJ: "Oh I feel so unnecessary - this is the kind of stuff that makes you feel like you wanna do something nasty, like waste some chicken gravy on your white shirt right down front." The recording was produced by

Al Bell Al Bell (born Alvertis Isbell; March 15, 1940) is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. He is best known as having been an executive and co-owner of Stax Records with Jim Stewart based in Memphis, Tennessee, during the ...

and Tom Nixon, and the instrumental backing was by

the Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays is an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including " Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

, featuring guitarist Michael Toles. Rob Bowman, ''Soulsville U.S.A: The Story Of Stax Records'', Music Sales Group, 1997, p.196
/ref> Reviewer Stewart Mason described the "Funky Chicken" as "the single goofiest dance craze of the 1970s... While Thomas clearly knows how silly the entire concept is – he starts the record off with his impersonation of a cackling hen – he doesn't let that stop him from getting behind those goofy lyrics and giving them everything he's got...." Song review by Stewart Mason, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 17 July 2015

Samples

It was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

Eazy-E Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1964 – March 26, 1995), known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. Eazy-E is often re ...

on his 1988 track "Still Talkin'", and by

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

in 1997 on "Don't Be Commin' (In My Face)"."Do the Funky Chicken", ''Who Sampled.com''
Retrieved 17 July 2015 A live version was sampled on the 1988

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

track

Night of the Living Baseheads "Night of the Living Baseheads" is the third single released in 1988 by hip hop group Public Enemy, from their critically acclaimed album ''It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back''. The lyrics deal with the effects of crack cocaine on Afri ...

. Featuring Elliott,

SWV SWV (Sisters with Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl "Coko" Gamble, Tamara "Taj" George, and Leanne "Lelee" Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B ...

sampled the song " Can We", also released in 1997.

References

{{Reflist 1969 singles Rufus Thomas songs Stax Records singles Songs about dancing Novelty and fad dances

Background

Samples

See also

References