How many different versions of the C-H-I-C-K-E-N lyrics are there?

Almost put this in MPSIMS but then decided Cafe Society because it’s a song…
I’m sure many of you know the C-H-I-C-K-E-N song. Name of song? Not sure.

Anyway, I learned it as a camp song in Girl Scouts, and since then I’ve heard a few mildly different versions of the lyrics. I’m wondering if you know the song, and if so, how do your lyrics differ from these?

C- thats the way it begins
H - I’m the 2nd letter in
I - I am the third
and C - I’m the 4th letter in that bird
oh K - I’m fillin’ in
E - I’m near the N
oh C-H-I-C-K-E-N
That’s the way you spell
CHICKEN!

Oh Rufus, Ruffus, Johnson Brown
Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes 'round

Whatcha gonna say
Whatcha gonna pay
Whatcha gonna do on the judgment day

Oh you know
I know
Rent means dough

Landlord’s gonna throw you out in the snow
Oh Rufus, Ruffus, Johnson Brown
Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes round?

Yeah, I remember it. The lyrics I learned were virtually identical, except we called him Rufus Raffus.

C … the way it begins
H … the second letter in
I … that is the third
C, K … the middle of the word
E … that’s near the end
N … that IS the end!

C H I C K E N
that’s the way you spell CHICKEN!
Chicken, oh chicken, chick, chick, chicken!

Is this an Eastern regional thing? I’ve never even heard of this song and I’ve been to church camp AND Girl Scouts!

I learned this song in elementary school in Oregon in the 70s, pretty much exactly as the OP has it.

When I was teaching it to a group of children at a camp a few years ago one of my co-workers pulled me aside because she was concerned that this song was offensive to African-Americans. :confused::rolleyes:

Well, it does mention someone called “Rufus” and (fried) chicken. :wink:

I spaced out an forgot I even started this thread - oops.

I learned it at a GS camp in Oklahoma, in the late 70s.

GS camp, California, early 80’s. His name is Rufus Rumfus Johnson Brown. Here’s my version, almost identical:
C- thats the way it begins
H - I’m the 2nd letter in
I - I am the third letter
and C - is the 4th letter in this word
oh K - I’m fillin’ in
E - I’m near the N
oh C-H-I-C-K-E-N
That’s the way you spell
CHICKEN!

Oh Rufus, Rumfus, Johnson Brown
Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes 'round

Whatcha gonna say
Whatcha gonna pay
Whatcha gonna do on the judgment day

Oh you know
I know
Rent means dough

Landlord’s gonna throw you out in the snow
Oh Rufus, Rumfus, Johnson Brown
Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes round?
You can find the words online too, I did a search a few years back. (Now, does anyone else know O G?)

The first version here is the version we learnt.

There may have been another verse after the CHICKEN chorus, but I don’t remember it, if so.

I’m another one who has never heard of this song. I grew up mostly near Baltimore, but never was in Girl Scouts or went to camp (in the US) or anything.

The original version is “(Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown) What Ya Gonna Do When De Rent Come 'Round” (here a recording from 1905) and was a “coon song”, a/k/a a song done in blackface minstrel shows. So leafrog’s co-worker wasn’t all that far off the mark.

Sheet music for What you goin’ to do when the rent comes 'round? (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown)

In James Agee’s A Death in the Family, older kids tease little Rufus Follett, saying he has a “n*gger’s name”, and singing the song.

GS camp, Kansas, modern day

C is the way it begins
H is the next letter in
I is the middle of the word
C you have already heard
K is the next letter in
E we are nearing the end
C-H-I-C-K-E-N that’s the way you spell chicken
and a 1 and a 2 and a doodley-doo
Rufus Rofkis Johnson Brown
whatchta gonna do when the rent comes around
whatchta gonna do
whatchta gonna say
can’t pay the rent til the break of day
whatchta gonna do how’s it gonna go
can’t pay the rent if you don’t got the dough
and a 1 and 2 and a doodley-doo
(repeat)

Bah. This old zombie proves there ain’t no justice: The full collection has multiple recordings of “The Preacher and the Bear” and, yes “What You Going To Do When The Rent Comes 'Round” but only one of “Won’t You Fondle Me”!