Annotation:Where the Chicken Got the Ax

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WHERE THE CHICKEN GOT THE AX. Old Time, Two-Step (2/4 time). USA, Oklahoma. C Major (‘A’ part) & G Major (‘B’ part). Standard tuning (fiddle). A'AB. A different tune than Henry Reed’s “Somebody Else is Getting it where the Chicken Got the A-X-E.” "Where the Chicken Got the Ax" is the name of a popular song written in 1892, music by William B. Glenroy and words by Harry Mayo. It begins:

In the contry once a farmer killed a chicken with an axe.
Just by striking him a single little blow;
But I noticed he took extra care to land upon his neck,
And the poor old rooster gave his final crow.
Then I quickly told the farmer that I thought he was a brute.
And I got so mad I challenged him to fight.
Then he threw aside his axe and said, I'll give you fight enough.
When he made a rush and hit me all his might.

Chorus:
And I got it where the chicken got the axe,
Just because I made too many sassy cracks;
But his blow I failed to check, so it landed on my neck,
Just exactly where the chicken got the axe.

The tune was played at dance speed by collector Marion Thede's source.

Source for notated version: Ben Turner (Harper County, Oklahoma) [Thede].

Printed sources: Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 125.

Recorded sources:

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