I thought you didn't believe in the Folk Process, SO'P. But you're right--this curious bit of music shows that even recorded is not immune to editing to it, though some of our friends here think that recordings, because they are fixed for all eternity, spelled the end of the folk process.

Evidence that it was, indeed, a product of the folk process come from the wikipedia article:

"The Rivingtons followed up their 1962 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" with the similar "The Bird's the Word" in 1963. The Trashmen had not heard this version but saw a band called The Sorensen Brothers playing it.[2] They decided to play the song that night at their own gig. During this first performance, drummer and vocalist Steve Wahrer stopped playing and ad-libbed the "Surfin' Bird" middle section."


The interesting thing is that the original, or originals, (don't forget "Mama Oo Mow Mow") wasn't nearly as big a hit as the Trashmen's version--some might say that that just reflects the quirkiness of popular taste, but I think that the Trashmen stripped away the extraneous, and got down to the essence--Your archnemesis Jim Carroll points out that the original forms of a lot of traditional songs were long and unfocussed, with a lot of extraneous material that was trimmed away in transmission--same here.

Interestingly, though this song is dismissed as a fleeting novelty, everytime someone digs it out, it recaptures the popular imagination--apparently, for instance, it was a hit this past year in the UK, after having been featured in a television program--

I wonder how it would sound on the kemance?