LITTLE RED ROOSTER (4:29)
As sung by Big Mama Thornton on "In Europe" (1965) and "Ball 'n' Chain" (1968).

Got a little red rooster, and that rooster lay just to crow for day.
I got a little red rooster; that rooster he lay to crow for day.
I know he keeps ev'rything in the barnyard upset in ev'ry way.

I heard the dog next door bark, and my hound he began to howl.
I heard the dog bark; oh, my hound he began to howl.
I said, you better watch out, all you girls; Big Mama's red rooster, he's now on the prowl.

Because he keeps all the hens, keep them fighting among themselves.
You know he keeps all the hens, keeps them fighting among themselves.
Because he don't want his hens, no! layin' any eggs for no one else.
Talkin' 'bout that red rooster....

If you see my red rooster, please, send that rooster back home.
If you see, see my red rooster, please, please, send him back home,
Because we have had no peace in the barnyard since the little red rooster—
I'm talkin' bout the little red rooster—
I mean that ol' little bitty rooster—
Since the little red, a rooster, a rooster, a rooster, a rooster—
Been gone.

*
Thorton performs sound effects at appropriate points in this performance: crowing rooster, cackling hens, barking dog, howling hound; also various exclamations like "whoa" etc. I have not attempted to reproduce them.

A different performance of LITTLE RED ROOSTER appears on "The Way It Is" (1970).

A different song appears under the title LITTLE RED ROOSTER on Thornton's albums "Jail" (1975), "The Complete Vanguard Recordings" (2000), and "Vanguard Visionaries" (2007), and on some compilations, but this seems to be a mistake; it has completely different lyrics and doesn't even mention a rooster.

I don't know what to make of the word "lay" in verse 1, since hens, not roosters, are said to "lay" (eggs). Could she have misheard Willie Dixon's song "too lazy to crow"? Also "for day" is ambiguous; it could be "'fore day."