From the sheet music at UCLA. Another copy can be viewed at the Library of Congress:


WHO DAT SAY CHICKEN IN DIS CROWD.
Words by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Music by Will Marion. ©1898.

1. There was once a great assemblage of the cullud population.
All the cullud swells was there.
They had got themselves together to discuss the situation,
And the rumors in the air.
There were speakers there from Georgia and some more from Tennessee
Who were making feathers fly,
When a roostah in a bahnya'd flew up whah those folks could see;
Then those darkies all did cry:

CHORUS: Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?
Speak de word agin' and speak it loud.
Blame de lan'; let white folks rule it.
I's a-lookin' fo' a pullet.
Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?

2. A famous cullud preacher told his listnin' congregation
All about de way to ac':
Ef dey want to be respected an' become a mighty nation,
To be hones' fo' a fac'.
Dey mus' nebber lie, no, nebber, an' mus' not be caught a-stealin'
Any pullets fum de lim';
But an aged deacon got up an' his voice it shook wif feelin'
As dese words he said to him:

CHORUS: Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?
Speak de word agin' and speak it loud.
What's de use of all dis talkin'?
Let me hyeah a hen a-squawkin'!
Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?


[The sheet music cover says:
"The Big Feature of E. E. Rice's 'Summer Nights.' " and
"The Great Success of 'Clorindy, or, The Origin of the Cake-Walk' "]