Wikipedia says Howlin' Wolf was the first to record this song as a single in 1961; W. Dixon was credited as writer, although Dixon himself didn't record it until 1970.


LITTLE RED ROOSTER
As sung by Willie Dixon on "I Am the Blues" (1970)

I had a little red rooster too lazy to crow for day.
I had a little red rooster too lazy to crow for day.
He kept everything in the barnyard either settin' or ready to lay.*

You know the dogs begin to bark and the hounds they begin to howl.
You know the dogs they begin to bark and the hounds they begin to howl.
You know my little red rooster's gone; Lord, the little red rooster's on the prowl.

Now if you see my little red rooster, somebody please drive him home.
Now if you see my little red rooster, somebody please run him home.
There ain't been no peace in the barnyard since my little red rooster been gone.


* I like Dixon's line because it seems to praise the rooster's sexual power. I suspect Howlin' Wolf's 1961 version ("Keeps everything in the barnyard upset in every way") was either cleaned up for the radio market, or based on a mishearing of Dixon's line.