Song of the Day 8/31: Little Feat, “Dixie Chicken”
Now that the Dixie Chicks have dropped the “dixie” from their name, I got to wondering. They named themselves after the Little Feat song, not the Confederacy, so if the word dixie is tainted, should we call the song “Chicken” going forward?
Maybe we should, since a restaurant sign inspired the lyrics. Lowell George wrote the song with Martin Kibbee (credited as Fred Martin), a college friend who played with George in his first band, the Factory. As Kibbee recalled it, he and George had been up all night working on the song, for which George only had the riff. “As I was leaving, there was a chicken place with a sign that said, “Dixie chicken.” He’d been playing the damn thing all night, you know, “duh,duh, duh,” which was going through my brain. By the time I got home, I had written this song. When I came back the next morning to the rehearsal hall, I went, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” And they all looked at me, like, “Puh-leeze, you’re kidding!” and resisted the notion for weeks, but eventually wound up in chicken suits.” It became the band’s signature tune, appearing on the album of the same name in 1973.
The band performed a weirdly truncated version for the “Midnight Special” TV show, eliminating the middle verse. That rendered unintelligible the story of the lyrics, which Martin said he based on a girl he once knew. It’s worth watching to see the young Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt singing backup.
Was lucky enough to see Little Feat w/Lowell George at the Tower a lo-o-o-ng time ago. Only the Band was able to sound at least as good live as on their albums as was Little Feat.
Great band, great live band.
I had the pleasure of going to the first (or one of the first) Little Feat concerts when they opened for Bonnie Raitt at the Irvine Auditorium on the University of Pennsylvania campus on March 30, 1973. Bonnie Raitt was one of their first discoverers and enthusiastically promoted their talents. Those intimate concert venues (1200 capacity) and others like the Bijou Café in Philadelphia (cap. 300) were great experiences. I worked at the Bijou in Philly as a doorman/bouncer/gopher for two years. It was part of the Larry Magdid Electric Factory venues that previewed aspiring acts and moved them to the Tower Theater enroute to the Spectrum or other large arenas. These more intimate capacity venues were great places to see and experience new groups/artists or established artists practicing for upcoming tours. I worked shows with John Mayall, Leon Redbone, Pat Benatar, the Roches, Jorge Santana (brother of Carlos), Dire Straits first U.S. tour (moved to the Tower Theater because of demand) George Thorogood (huge Pagan MC attendance), Dr. John, Taj Mahal and a host of others. Also some significantly funny comedians like George Wallace and Uncle Dirty opened for these acts. Great times, great experiences and cherished memories.
John Kowalko
Best concert I ever saw
My favorite band of all time (and so many to choose from!). Saw ’em at Irvine with John Hall opening….great venue, top 10 show. The Castle Browne Band from New Jersey (fave local band) used to dedicate their cover of the song to my wife Trixie.
I remember seeing a band called ‘Chicken Legs’, which featured Catfish Hodge and members of Little Feat. They were also great. Had to be early ’80’s:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/11/16/catfish-hodge-and-chicken-legs-really-cooking/61e571db-9d09-47c8-a2f0-f91779345878/
The venue was somewhere near where 202 and Rt. 1 meet. Can’t remember the venue name. I was no doubt too high…