Chicken In The Car (Chicken in the corn)

Subject: Chicken In The Car (Chicken in the corn)
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Jan 12 - 03:15 PM

I happened upon this interesting video of the Caribbean vocalist/guitarist Brushy playing a one string guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEkdA2Whvm8&feature=related

While playing that guitar Brushy sings a song called "Chicken In The Corn". Here's the chorus of that song that I transcribed from that video:

Chorus
Chicken in the corn, mama eh - hay,
and the corn can't grow.
(Well-a) Chicken in the corn,
so the corn can't grow-o.

-snip-

There are several other videos uploaded to YouTube of Brushy singing that same song. In one of those videos Brushy introduces the song by saying his friend from San Francisco sung this old song to him.

The chorus, tune, tempo of that song are very much like the rhyme "Chicken in the Car" which I remember from my childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s (African American).*

* I added that demographical information for folkloric purposes.

-snip-

I haven't been able to find any other mention of the song "Chicken in the corn" except as sung by Brushy. However, I did find several citations for the rhyme "Chicken in the car", only one of which was from Mudcat (a remembrance of the same words I recall):

Chicken in the car and the car can't go
That's how you spell Chi-ca-go.


http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=29897

Here's a link to a post that I published on my pancocojams cultural blog that cites the results of online research that I did on the rhyme/song "Chicken in the car":

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/chicken-in-car-and-car-cant-go-rhyme.html "Chicken in the car and the car can't go rhyme"

Does anyone here know the song "Chicken In The Corn" or know the rhyme/song "Chicken in the car"? If so, when & where (geographical location) do you remember it from, and were any movement activities (like jumping rope/skipping or hand clapping) done to accompany its singing or chanting?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

-Azizi Powell

Subject: RE: Chicken In The Car (Chicken in the corn)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 12:52 PM

Thanks for the link to Brushy, Azizi. Sorry I can't help with your request, though. I've never heard that song before.

Subject: RE: Chicken In The Car (Chicken in the corn)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 02:26 PM

Azizi-

I haven't heard either of these songs before but I'm having a whole lot of fun imaging what is happened with a "chicken in a car."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble