All I Want Is Ma Chickens 1899

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 4 June 2008
2008

It was 'way down home
in South Caroline
Jasper Smith kept a farm so fine,
to him all people had given great praise
for all the great prize chickens
that he did raise.
'Bout a mile from his farm
lived a desp'rate crook,
who kept an evil eye on Jasper's chicken coop.
One night when ev'rything was still,
he stole dem fowls away,
Next day Jasper went to him
and in a mournful voice did say:

All I want is ma chickens
My Shanghai chickens
ma feathered pickins
I shan't leave here widout ma chickens!
I'll bet six bits
I'll kill a coon
if I don't get ma chickens back!

All I want is ma chickens
My Shanghai chickens
ma feathered pickins
I shan't leave here widout ma chickens!
I'll bet six bits
I'll kill a coon
if I don't get ma chickens back!

The coons gave a picnic
down at Possum Beach,
'Fessor Kidney and his wife
came the games to teach,
the big event of the day
was a chicken race
which 'Fessor won in a walk
and without a pace.
Two fine Spring hens
was the prize that he got,
to the boat he quickly went
and for home he did start.
Four miles from home
the boat went down,
his wife sank with a groan.
In a halfdrowned state
they picked him up
and he began to moan:

All I wants is ma chickens,
dem lubly chickens
ma feathered pickins
Now don't mind ma wife,
but save my chickens!
You better send a diver down
to see if he can get ma chickens back!

All I wants is ma chickens,
dem lubly chickens
ma feathered pickins
Now don't mind ma wife,
but save my chickens!
You better send a diver down
to see if he can get ma chickens back!

Razor Jake, we all know,
had a very bad name,
Stealing chickens was his highest aim,
one day he took sick,
so the doctor they did fetch,
he had consumption in his feet,
so he must pass in with his checks.
Jake says: "If I've got to go,
please grant my last request,
When I go I wants to take with me
the thing I love best,
Just cook me some nice chicken
for to eat on the way."
When the time came round
to breath his last,
these words I heard him say:

All I want is ma chickens,
My nice roast chickens
wid gravey drippens!
I shan't leave this earth
widout ma chickens!
I don't mind a dying ev'ry day
if I can take ma chickens wid me!

All I want is ma chickens,
My nice roast chickens
wid gravey drippens!
I shan't leave this earth
widout ma chickens!
I don't mind a dying ev'ry day
if I can take ma chickens wid me!

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
All I Want Is Ma Chickens 1899
Words & Music by Deas & Wilson
© 1899 by Jos.W.Stern & Co.
*
sequence & karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Wednesday 4 June 2008 at 14.28
in association with Veda Meyer-Castens
*