Shanghai Rooster (Shanghai Chicken)

DESCRIPTION: "I had a farm out west, of farms it was the best, Had a cross-eyed mule... And one old Shanghai rooster with a wart on his left ear." But the rooster is dead. The singer recalls the bird, which fell in battle; all he has left is a feather
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: chickens farming death bird death
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 271, "The Shanghai Rooster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Neely/Spargo-TalesAndSongsOfSouthernIllinois, pp. 187-188, "The Farm in the West" (1 text)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 195, "Shanghai Chicken" (1 short text, 1 tune, probably this although it's too short to be sure)
Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong, pp. 203-204, "Shanghai Rooster" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: David C. Peterson, "Wisconsin Folksongs," chapter in _Badger History: Wisconsin Folklore_, State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Volume XXV, Number 2, November 1973), pp. 52-53, "The Shanghai Rooster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5247
NOTES [24 words]: Roud includes several items under this number that I'm not convinced are related, but it does appear that this is a rather disjointed song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ScaNF195

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