"Little Red Rooster" (or "The Red Rooster" as it was first titled) is a blues standard credited to arranger and songwriter Willie Dixon. The song was first recorded in 1961 by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf in the Chicago blues style. His vocal and slide guitar playing are key elements of the song. It is rooted in the Delta blues tradition and the theme is derived from folklore.
The theme reflects early twentieth century folk beliefs in the American South that a rooster contributes to peace in the barnyard.
This song is structured in the AAB blues pattern using 12 bars, a very common structure in blues music. Many Blues songs are structured using the AAB format.
I have a little red rooster too lazy to crow 'fore day (2x)
Keep everything in the barnyard upset in every way
Oh, the dogs begin to bark hound begin to howl (2x)
Oh, watch out, strange kin people little red rooster is on the prowl
If you see my little red rooster please drive him home (2x)
There ain't no peace in the barnyard since the little red rooster been gone
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Musical and lyrical antecedents to "Little Red Rooster" appear in earlier songs by blues artists Memphis Minnie's "If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)" (1936) and Charlie Patton's "Banty Rooster" (1929), which is an exact copy of Walter Rhodes' "Crowing Rooster" (1928)
"Crowing Rooster"/"Banty Rooster", contains the verses "What you want with a rooster, he won't crow 'fore day" and "I know my dog anywhere I hear him bark", which are analogous to Howlin Wolf's "I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow 'fore day" and "Oh the dogs begin to bark".
(o) Walter Rhodes with "Pet" and "Can" (1927) (as "The Crowing Rooster")
Walter Rhodes, voc, voc effects, accordion;
'Pet' and 'Can' (Maylon and Richard Harney). g, sp
Recorded December 10, 1927 in Memphis, Tenn.;
Released on Columbia 14289-D
Going to buy me a rooster : put him in my back door (2x)
See a stranger coming : he'll flap his wings and crow
What you want with a rooster : he won't crow 'fore day (2x)
What you want with a woman : won't do nothing she say
What you want with a hen : won't cackle when she lay (2x)
What you want with a man : won't do nothing he say
Going to take my picture : hang it up against the wall (2x)
And if I ask you what about it : daddy that's all that's all
I'll take my picture : put it in a frame (2x)
So if I die : you can see me just the same
I know my dog : anywhere I hear him bark (2x)
I can tell my baby : if I see her in the dark
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More than 18 months later Charley Patton made an exact copy of "Crowing Rooster" and retitled it "Banty Rooster Blues"
(c) Charley Patton (1929) (as "Banty Rooster Blues")
Recorded June 14, 1929 in Richmond, IND
Released on Paramount 12792-B
I'm gonna buy me a banty, put him at my backdoor (2x)
So when he see a stranger a-comin', he'll flap his wings and crow
What you want with a rooster, he won't crow 'fore day? (2x)
What you want with a man, when he won't do nothin' he say?
What you want with a hen won't, cackle when she lays? (2x)
What you want with a woman, when she won't do nothin' I say?
Ah, take my picture, hang it up in Jackson wall (2x)
Anybody asks you "What about it", tell 'em "That's all I saw"
My hook's in the water, and my cork's on top (2x)
How can I lose, Lord, with the help I got
I know my dog anywhere I hear him bark (2x)
I can tell my rider, if I feel her in the dark
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On the same day Charley Patton also used the same melody for another song.
(c) Charley Patton (1929) (as "It Won't Be Long")
Recorded June 14, 1929 in Richmond, IND
Released on Paramount 12854
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Some of the lyrics to Memphis Minnie's 1936 acoustic combo blues "If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)" are also similar with Howlin Wolf's "Red Rooster"
For example, she sings "If you see my rooster, please run 'im on back home", while Howlin Wolf uses "If you see my little red rooster, please drive 'im home".
Additionally, similar melody lines are found in both songs. For her recording, Memphis Minnie does a full-throated imitation of a rooster's crow. Mimicking animal sounds later became a feature of several recordings of "Little Red Rooster".
(c) Memphis Minnie (1936) (as "If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)")
Recorded May 27, 1936 in Chicago
Released on Vocalion 03285
If you see my rooster please run him on back home (2x)
I haven't found no eggs in my basket since my rooster been gone
I heard my rooster crowing this morning just about the break of day (2x)
I guess that was the time he was making his getaway
I just found out how come my hens won't lay (2x)
Every time I look around my rooster have done gone away
Now play it, Bob. Tell me 'bout my rooster
I've got too many hens for not to have no roosters on my yard (2x)
And I don't know what's the matter something have done got 'em barred
Now Bob if you see my rooster please run him on back home (2x)
I haven't found no eggs in my basket since my rooster been gone
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On February 23, 1963, American soul singer Sam Cooke recorded his interpretation of Willie Dixon's song, retitling it "Little Red Rooster".
Cooke's musical arrangement follows a typical twelve-bar blues structure and is performed at a faster tempo than Howlin' Wolf's. Cooke also added an additional verse:
I tell you that he keeps all the hens, fighting among themselves
Keeps all the hens, fighting among themselves
He don't want no hen in the barnyard, layin' eggs for nobody else
A young Billy Preston uses "playful organ vocalizing" or organ lines to imitate the sounds of a rooster crowing and, following the lyrics, dogs barking and hounds howling
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In 1964 the Rolling Stones recorded "Little Red Rooster" with original member Brian Jones, a key player in the recording. Their rendition, which remains closer to the original arrangement than Cooke's, became a number one record in the UK and continues to be the only blues song to reach the top of the British chart.
Although the Stones used the Sam Cooke title "Little Red Rooster" , Jagger uses the lyrics from the original (omitting Cooke's extra verse), but makes one important change—instead of "I got a little red rooster", he sings "I am the little red rooster".
Instrumentally, Bill Wyman generally follows Dixon's bass lines.
Charlie Watts later admitted that his drum part was inspired by Sam Cooke's version, which was played by Hal Blaine.
However, it is Brian Jones' contributions that are usually singled out. Biographer Sean Egan writes "it is his [Jones'] playing that makes the record via both the cawing bottleneck that is its most prominent feature and his closing harmonica". Stephen Davis adds, "It was his [Jones'] masterpiece, his inspired guitar howling like a hound, barking like a dog, crowing like a rooster" (similar to Billy Preston's "playful organ vocalizing" in Sam Cooke's version).
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Later, Chess arranged for Howlin' Wolf to record "The Red Rooster" and some other songs with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and the Stones-members Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts for the 1971 album The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions.
At the beginning of the recording, Howlin' Wolf can be heard attempting to explain the timing of the song, because as Wyman later explained, "we were kind of playing it backwards"
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