"Chicken In The Car And The Car Can't Go" Rhyme

Edited by Azizi Powell

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

"Chicken in the car" demonstrates how the words to a rhyme can remain very constant over time and among various populations, however the same rhyme can have different activities associated with it.

I got to thinking about "Chicken in the car" because I happened upon a very brief video* of a Caribbean vocalist/musician Brushy singing a song whose words, tune, and tempo is almost identical to my childhood remembrances of chanting "chicken in the car".

Brushy One String - "Chicken In The Corn" (Official Video)



Brushy OneString, Published on Mar 20, 2013
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8H-67ILaqc for information about where this tune can be purchased online.
-snip-
*I replaced that brief video clip with the official video that is found above. The following comments are from that brief video clip of this song that was uploaded by rezsbc on Mar 22, 2010
"This clip if [sic] from the 'Rise Up Reggae Star,' check out their channel http://www.youtube.com/user/riseupmovie.

The tune also came out on a Roof International 7" in the early 90's with a dancehall mix on one side and brushy alone with the guitar on the flip! Brushy is the son of the late, great Jamaican legend Freddie McKay"
-snip-
Here's my partial transcription of "Chicken In The Corn"

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-

UPDATE September 1, 2013 hat tip Guto Santana for alerting me to to this link that has the complete lyrics to Bushy's song and also has more information about Bushy: http://blog.riseupmovie.com/2013/04/29/brushy-one-string-chicken-in-the-corn-lyrics.aspx
-snip-
According to his spoken introduction to this song in another video "The King Of One String - Trailer", Brushy said he went to San Fransciso and a friend of his sung him this "old country song".

There are several other YouTube videos of Brushy singing this song, but I can't find its lyrics online. (It should be noted that the song "Chicken And Corn" - whose lyrics & video are available online - is a newly composed song which isn't the same as Brushy's rendition of "Chicken In The Corn".
-snip-
Where did Brushy (or his San Franscico friend) get this "Chicken In The Corn" song from? If it really is an "old country song", is it a precusor to the rhyme "Chicken in the car"?

As I mentioned, I remember chanting the "chicken in the car" lines given at the beginning of this page when I was a child (Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1950s, African American*). That is the full text of the rhyme that I remember. I don't recall it being said with any accompanying activity except swaying back & forth while chanting.

* I'm adding the location, date, and my race for the folkloric record.

I couldn't find any other online references to "Chicken in the corn" and my search for videos other than Brushy's of "Chicken in the car" was unsuccessful. But after a fair bit of sleuthing, I found "Chicken in the car" mentioned on the following websites: (Websites are assigned numbers for referencing sake which have no preferential ranking. These quotes are posted without editorial comment).

Online Source #1
From http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=27532
06-14-2000, 03:51 PM
njk8
"Does anyone know the origen or purpose of the saying, "Chicken in the car and the car can't go," and i believe it also has "and thats how you spell chicago."

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funneefarmer ; 06-14-2000, 05:50 PM
"It's a tongue twister although I haven't found an origin yet.
From Collection of Tongue Twisters

"Knife and a fork bottle and a cork
that is the way you spell New York.

Chicken in the car and the car can go,
that is the way you spell Chicago. "

**
funneefarmer ; 06-14-2000, 06:43 PM

"Also...
Gordon "Wedge" Wedgewood
Author of the novel "Chicken in the Car and the Car Won't Go, CHICAGO", (Chicago as it was a half century ago)

And...
"Chicken In The Car" is a song done by Ralph Flanagan on the RCA label."

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Ezstrete ; 06-14-2000, 07:05 PM
"This won't help too much but it was also a rhyme used during jump rope.

My first aweareness of it was about 1926 +/- a year or so.

It was a piece of nonsence like" Chevrolet---y'gotta shove 'er or let her lay"
or
"Bottle and cork spells NewYork"
Kid fun stuff "

**
Ukulele Ike ; 06-15-2000, 01:17 PM
"I first saw it in Carl Withers' collection A ROCKET IN MY POCKET: THE RHYMES AND CHANTS OF YOUNG AMERICANS (1948), a classic children's book that is still in print and which every parent ought to provide for their kids."

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Online Source #2
Regarding the title of a new travel book on Chicago, Illinois:

http://chitownmoms.net/chicken-in-the-car-and-the-car-wont-go/
“The title stems from an old saying to help folks remember how to spell Chicago.”

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Online Source #3
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105265/quotes
"Memorable quotes for A River Runs Through It (1992)

Mr. Sweeney: [delivering letter from Chicago, quotes old song] Chicken in the car. Car won't go. That's how you spell Chicago. Ha he he."

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Online Source #4
Excerpt from
http://www.amazon.com/Knife-Fork-Bottle-Cork-Trilogy/dp/0964484633
"A Knife and a Fork and a Bottle and a Cork: That's How You Spell New York (Riddle Rhyme Trilogy) [Paperback]
Howard Schrager (Author)
Sarah Madsen (Illustrator)
Publisher: Lemontree Pr (July 15, 2010)
From the Author
"A number of years ago, I was watching the movie, Cinema Paradiso, when it cut to the scene of a hen roosting in an abandoned car. Immediately the words of a 1920s street rhyme my father had taught me flashed into my mind, Chicken in the Car, and the Car Can't Go... that's how you spell Chicago. He'd also taught me a companion rhyme that went A Knife and a Fork and a Bottle and a Cork...that's how you spell New York." Within days, I had decided to write a riddle rhyme for each of the 50 states." So says Howard Schrager, a teacher of 30 years standing.

Riddle Rhymes were part of children's culture for hundreds of years, and Schrager doesn't want to see them vanish. "Doing riddle rhymes requires listening, and, moreover, hearing. With games like Jeopardy, you either know the answer or you don't. With Riddle Rhymes you already know the answer, you just don't know which answer it is. You just have to hear the name arise inwardly, and to recognize it. This involves an interesting process of sound sifting, and provides a unique slant on thinking, and on competition."

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Online Source #5
From
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=29897

Subject: RE: Help: Illinois/Chicago Songs
From: Trapper
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 12:30 PM

My dad went to Chicago when I was a kid for a Chef's convention, and the whole week before he left we were singing:
Chicken in the car
And the car won't go
That's how we spell Chi-ca-go!

-snip-
In summation,
1. I found no mention of the song "Chicken in the corn" except those on Caribbean vocalist/musician Brushy's videos.

2. "Chicken in the car" is described as a tongue twister; a jump rope rhyme; a piece of nonsense; a title of a song (Online Source #1); a title of a novel (Online Source #1); a title of a travel book taken from "an old saying to help folks remember how to spell Chicago" (Online Source #2); a song [chant]?*(Online Sources #3 and #5); a riddle; and a street rhyme (Online Source #4).

* My sense is that people in the United States often refer to rhymes & chants as "songs", and also describe their performance of rhymes & chants as "singing".

My recollection of "Chicken in the car" would also be placed under the "street rhyme" category.

3. The earliest dates that I found online for the "Chicken in the car" rhyme were 1926 +/- a year (Online Source #1) and 1920s (Online Source #4).

Note: The riddle "chicken in the car and the car won't go/that's how you spell Chicago" is also given on a few other websites in association with the verse:

Knife and a fork bottle and a cork
that is the way you spell New York.
-snip-
Although I was born & raised in New Jersey, a state that is considerably closer to New York than Illinois, I have no recollection of that "knife and fork" verse or any other riddle verse sung (chanted) along with "chicken in the car".

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Update: 2/4/2012
Here's another verse that I found in Harlem Photographs 1932-1940 (Aaron Siskind)

Chicken in the car
Car wouldn't go
Chicken jump out
The car went slow.

-snip-
This was one of the short rhymes included in that ground breaking photography book.
From http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/1999/08/13/25807.html: "This was perhaps the first time a white photographer documented this black community."

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