The Metaphysics of the Funky Chicken

It’s a ridiculous dance tune, but Rufus Thomas’ “Do the Funky Chicken” is deep. Thomas opens the song by making chicken noises. The horns kick into high gear and Rufus invites us to “come right on down front”, where he reminds of us of other dances like the Popcorn and the Dog. He then declares that he’s going to introduce to a “brand new dance that’s goin’ around,” the Funky Chicken.

Thomas instructs in the “second spasm”: “You put both arms up across your face/your knees start wiggling all over the place/you flap your arms and your feet start kickin’/then you know you’re doin’ the funky chicken.”

Note that then in the last line. The implication is clear: it is impossible to enter a dance floor with the conscious intention of doing the Funky Chicken. It is only after you have begun to do the Funky Chicken that you know you’re doing the Funky Chicken.

You don’t do the Funky Chicken. The Funky Chicken does you.

Self-consciousness is the enemy of the Funky Chicken.

Thomas brings the Zen when he notes that, as a result of doin’ the Funky Chicken, “I feel so unnecessary.” The Funky Chicken has taken Rufus to a new plane of existence and will do the same for you, if you let it.

~217~

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