Our Daily Bird 58: The Bird Dance

If you ever attended a wedding in the 1980's, I guarantee you know this song. Though originally written by a Swiss accordionist in the 1950's, "The Bird Dance" (aka "The Chicken Dance") was resurrected by dance-hall band, The Emeralds (who just happen to be from my hometown) in the late 1970's and became a ubiquitous staple of weddings, parties, and elementary school music classes (at least in my neck of the woods). It's been enduring enough to spawn a Chicken Dance Elmo, so maybe the kids are even still doing it today.

For your enjoyment, here's an incredibly awkward performance of it on The Lawrence Welk Show. Of particular note is the increasingly off-time clapping as the song progresses. Is it bad dubbing or a spectacularly poor collective sense of rhythm? You be the judge.

Comments

[FS MIchaels]

Hilarious. Thanks for my morning laugh David -

[KR Wolfe]

I feel like my dancing skills have improved in the legend of my own mind after watching this.