
In 1969, Rufus Thomas wrote “Do the funky chicken.” It became #5 in the R&B chart and #28 on the US pop chart in 1970 and was produced by Al Bell and Tom Nixon. It featured the instrumentals by the Bar Keys and the guitar stylings of Michael Toles. The song was the title track on Thomas’s 1970 LP Do the Funky Chicken. After performing with Willie Mitchells band, Thomas improvised the song as a novelty like most of the songs on the record. Thomas was quoted as saying that the inspiration for the song came to him in the middle of a performance, and he just separated each move in the lyrics. Thomas was also a radio DJ and incorporated one of his regular shticks from his show into the song.