1969 Song of the Day is ‘Do The Funky Chicken” by Rufus Thomas. Rufus was a Memphis DJ who had a string of novelty R&B hits- his biggest hit crossed over and peaked at #10 on the Hot 100 with Walking The Dog on the great Stax record label out of Memphis. He returned to the charts in 1969 with this song “Do The Funky Chicken” which peaked at #28. His daughter Carla was also a recording star of note-“The Queen of Memphis Soul.” Carla’s biggest hit was Gee Whiz #10 in 1960. Rufus was more of a personality than a singer. He was a little big of everything in Memphis- television host, DJ, comedian, singer-songwriter.

Do The Funky Chicken was a song that started out as an improvised song in concert one evening that he developed further. On the recording the Bar-Key’s played back up. Reviewer Stewart Mason called “Do The Funky Chicken” the goofiest dance craze of the 1970’s. More of a fun song than a great song.