It ’s airheaded , it ’s catchy , and it ’s everywhere . A fun footling jig with simple motion that can be learned in under a minute , " The Chicken Dance " is a basic at school day parties , bar mitzvahs , and Oktoberfest celebration . The tarradiddle of this avian shimmy begin with its melody , which was penned more than 60 years ago by a Swiss instrumentalist named Werner Thomas .
Back in the fifties , Thomas earned his everyday kale playing the accordion at Swiss holiday resorts . As he discover in this German - languageinterview , the tune first popped into his head in 1955 or so . Thomas spend the next few year revising his air — and coming up with a dance to go with it . The quirky subroutine he at long last devised was inspired not by chickens but rather by skiers .
The next major development in the song ’s history came in the other 1970s , when Belgian music producer Louis Julien van RijmenantheardThomas playing it at a hotel in Davos , Switzerland . In 1973 , Rijmenant collaborated with a band call Bobby Setter ’s Cash & Carry to put out the Sung dynasty as asingle . Titled “ Tchip , Tchip , ” this version of the tune was create via synthesiser — a fact that caught Thomas entirely off - precaution when he first heard their covering .
“ The synthesizer was a totally new instrument for me , ” Thomas said . Although he initially did n’t approve of this electronic take on his song , he soon came around to liking it . And he was n’t alone : Within a year , Rijmenant ’s “ Tchip , Tchip ” phonograph record sold over 1 million copies in Europe .
Despite the tune ’s popularity , Thomas ’s accompanying dancing would n’t become wide known until the Dutch bandDe Electronicareleased a new cover of “ Tchip , Tchip ” in 1980 . Their version — which the mathematical group called “ De Vogeltjesdans , ” or “ Dance Little Bird”—spent a respectable29 weekson the Dutch charts , where it peaked at number eight . At concert and in television appearances ( one of which you may look on below ) , De Electronica reunite the strain with the original , duck - similar motion that Thomas had devised more than two 10 earlier .
By then , the melodic line had already crossed the Atlantic . Credit for add it stateside belongs to euphony producer Stanley Mills . His first exposure to Thomas ’s masterpiece fall at a1972 conventionin Cannes , France . manufacturing plant immediately liked the tune and purchased its American distribution rights . Like De Electronica , he call up his version “ Dance Little Bird . ” Although the song is now an omnipresent military force at dance parties across the commonwealth , it did n’t find its American interview right on away . Mills assay to make “ Dance Little Bird ” more vendible by commissioning originalEnglish lyrics , which have since faded into obscurity . ( The chorus line go as follow : “ Hey you ’re in the swing / You ’re cluckin ’ like a bird / You ’re flapping your wings / Do n’t you feel absurd ? ” ) Although pulverisation convinced several polka circle to include “ Dance Little Bird ” on their albums , none of them cope to wrick it into a collision .
Still , you ca n’t keep a good strain down . Mills says that in the 1980s , subservient variation of “ Dance Little Bird ” slowly acquire a following in Milwaukee , Cleveland , Austin , and other city with large polka - love communities . “ the great unwashed started dancing to it at weddings and legal community mitzvahs and the local saltation bands began to play it , ” Millssaid . “ A few local polka groups register it and sold it out of the back of [ their trucks ] . ”
Unbeknownst to Mills at the fourth dimension , the strain learn a new name at this point in its chronicle . It ’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when American audience started calling it “ The Chicken Dance , ” but a festival in Tulsa , Oklahoma may well be responsible . At the metropolis ’s 1981 Oktoberfest , a German banding adjudicate to play “ Dance Little Bird ” and taught the crowd how to do Thomas ’s Duck Dance . Since visual assistance are always helpful , the event organizers scour the greater Tulsa sphere in hunting of a duck costume before the party got started . None could be found , but a local idiot box place was able to lend them achicken causa — and the relaxation is chronicle .
One solar day in1994 , Mills got a call from a company that was looking to produce a terpsichore political party digest record . The caller-out asked if he could let in a song call “ The Chicken Dance . ”
“ I do n’t own anything called ‘ The Chicken Dance , ’ ” Mills answer .
“ Yes you do , I ’ll bring it over the headphone , ” said the alien .
“ When he did that , ” Mill later recalled , “ I realized it was my song . It got that name all by itself . ” The resulting compiling record — titledTurn Up the Music — was a resonant success . Ever since , " The Chicken Dance " has been a real cash moo-cow for Mills .
AsThe Wall Street Journalreportedin 2001 , “ His ‘ Chicken Dance ’ income from television commercials alone surged from a pittance at the start of the nineties to just about $ 7000 in 1995 , and then to more than $ 50,000 [ in 2000 ] . ”
“ It ’s doing very well , ” Mills say at the metre , “ but I ’m not a millionaire because of it . ”
Since then , “ The Chicken Dance ” has pick up its way into the ethnical mainstream , enliven up everything from parties tosporting events . Although many creative person come to detest their big smasher , Thomas still value the song ’s success . As the accordionist notes in the said interview , whenever he see “ The Chicken Dance ” on telly , he can rest secure in the knowledge that his next beer has been pay for .
This story has been update for 2019 .
