Origins: Chickens Are A-Crowin'

Subject: Lyr Req: Chickens Are A-Crowin'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 10:17 PM

Riggy Rackin sings this.

Somebody want to transcribe it?

Google Books

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Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry:

Chickens They Are Crowing

DESCRIPTION: Playparty, apparently about a girl who has spent all night with her lover: "Chickens they are crowing, For it's almost daylight." "My father he will scold me...." "My mama will uphold me...." (Others may add other sentiments or warn about boys)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1911 (JAFL28)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting family nightvisit chickens father mother
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 541, "My Pappy He Will Scold Me" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 269, "The Chickens they are Crowing" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 66, "The Chickens They Are Crowing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #51, "There's Nothing to be Gained by Roving" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 105, "Chickens They Are Crowing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 150-151, "I'm on My Way to Georgy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3650 and 14005
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (floating lyrics in a few texts)
cf. "Crow, Black Chicken" (words)
NOTES [45 words]: Roud files the Jane Hicks Gentry version of this, which begins, "There's nothing to be gained by roving," as #14005. Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians does not include it with#269.But the plot appears to be the same, and many of the lyrics are identical. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: R541

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chickens Are A-Crowin'
From: cnd
Date: 11 Jul 20 - 10:23 PM

CHICKENS ARE A-CROWIN'

Chickens are a-crowin'
Crowin', crowin';
Chickens are a-crowin'
Because its almost light.

I won't come here till mornin',
Mornin', mornin';
I won't come till mornin'
Stay with the girls all night.

Papa's going to scold me,
Scold me, scold me;
Papa's going to scold me
For stayin' out all night.

Mama, she'll uphold me,
Uphold me, uphold me;
Mama, she'll uphold me,
Sayin' that I done just right.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chickens Are A-Crowin'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 11:50 PM

Here's what Riggy sent me:

Chickens Are A-Crowing

Am                                       G
Chickens are a-crowing, a-crowing, a-crowing,
Am                                        G                     Am
Chickens are a-crowing, for it is ’most daylight.

Boys they come a-courting, a-courting, a-courting,
Boys they come a-courting and then they stay all night.

I won’t go home till morning, till morning, till morning,
I won’t go home till morning, I’m staying away all night.

My momma she will scold me, will scold me, will scold me,
My momma she will scold me for staying away all night.

My daddy he’ll uphold me, uphold me, uphold me,
My daddy he’ll uphold me, and say I done all right.

Chickens are a-crowing, a-crowing, a-crowing,
Chickens are a-crowing, for it is ’most daylight.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Chickens Are A-Crowin'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 May 23 - 08:30 PM

Here's #105 from Alan Lomax, The Folk Songs of North America. Lomax got it from Sharp, English Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians (1932), page 378

CHICKENS THEY ARE CROWIN'

The chickens they are crowin’, a-crowin’, a-crowin’,
The chickens they are crowin’, for it is almost daylight.

My mother she will scold me, will scold me, will scold me,
My mother she will scold me for stayin’ away all night.

My father he’ll uphold me, uphold me, uphold me,
My father he’ll uphold me and say I done just right.

I won’t go home till mornin’, till mornin’, till mornin’,
I won’t go home till mornin’, and I’ll stay with the girls all night.

The chickens they are crowin’, a-crowin’, a-crowin’,
The chickens they are crowin’, for it is almost daylight.

Peggy Seeger recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mf_TVPcbR4

Peggy Seeger & Guy Carawan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIRFFM8jBdo

Hills & Mangsen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUAgIL68g2Q

Subject: RE: Origins: Chickens Are A-Crowin'
From: GUEST,Robert B. Waltz
Date: 25 May 23 - 09:20 PM

There is good reason to think all of these are bowdlerized, as we'd expect with something that was collected by Cecil Sharp. The Jane Hicks Gentry version, while not explicit, does say specifically "I'll stay with the girls till morning" as the first line of a verse (much more obvious than in the Lomax version) offering as an excuse the fact that the man's legs were tired. Right.

Subject: RE: Origins: Chickens Are A-Crowin'
From: GUEST,Mike Yates
Date: 26 May 23 - 10:26 AM

Yes Cecil Sharp did alter texts for publication, but he noted down song words exactly as they were sung by the singers. You can check these texts by looking at his manuscripts, copies of which are held in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in London.