Crow Black Chicken

Recordings

Leake County Ramblers, 1928 (Columbia 15318)
Sing Songs Of The New Lost City Ramblers, Tom Paley, John Cohen, Mike Seeger, 1961
The New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 4, The New Lost City Ramblers, 1962
Old Timey Music, The New Lost City Ramblers, 1964
Boomer's Story, Ry Cooder, 1972
New River Jam, Skyland Strings, 197?
Barnyard Dance, Peter Feldmann, 1980
New Lost City Ramblers: The Early Years: 1958-1962, The New Lost City Ramblers, 1991
Delusions Of Banjer, Bad Livers, 1992
Rural Route 2, Bob Bovee and Gail Heil, 1996
One Shoe Left, Ben Winship, 1997
Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1, The Leake Country Revelers, 1998
Good Fellow, Peter Feldmann, 1980
Fresh from the Market, Mitch & Eileen Rice, 2003?

Notes

Played by the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers in San Carlos on June 11th 1962. The lyrics used in this version are as follows;

I went up on the mountain to give my horn a blow,
I thought I heard my true love say 'Yonder goes my beau.'

(Chorus)
Crow black chicken and crow for day,
Crow black chicken and fly away,
Crow black chicken and crow for day,
I love chicken pie.

Chicken crow for midnight, chicken crow for day,
Along comes an owl, ooh-haa! Knocked that chicken away.

Chorus...

Chicken crow for midnight, chicken crow for day,
Along comes a Ford, ooh-haa! Knocked that chicken away.

Chorus...

The hardest work I ever done was plough a field of rye,
The easiest work I ever done was eating chicken pie.

Chorus...

Oh wish I had a big frame house, fifteen stories high,
Every story in that house was filled with chicken pie.

Chorus...

On the Ry Cooder album the song is credited to Lawrence Wilson. All other recordings are listed as traditional.

Some recordings use the title I Like Chicken Pie.

The first two lines are a 'floating verse', a verse that is used in a number of different songs.