What the Caked Crusader chose to bake to this week (24 May 2008)

I revisited an old favourite this week – Louis Jordan. It is impossible not to be cheered by Louis Jordan and his Tympany 5 band. Humorous without falling into novelty he can always put a smile on my face and, in my opinion, remains the best music to bake to. The songs cover a range of styles such as rhythm and blues, boogie woogie, and jazz. The greatest compliment I can give is that there isn’t a track I ever skip when listening to a Louis Jordan CD.

My favourite track? I do rather have a penchant for “Ain’t nobody here but us chickens”. This track always seems like a song version of a Gary Larson cartoon – it has that kind of surreal comedy to it. All the lyrics are sung by chickens as the song is about a farmer checking on a noise in his barn. He asks “who’s there” and gets the response “there ain’t nobody here but us chickens”. I like it when the chickens get into expressing why they need their sleep and start listing their chores:

TomorrowIs a busy day
We got things to do
We got eggs to lay
We got ground to dig
And worms to scratch
It takes a lot of settin'
Gettin' chicks to hatch

Why aren't people writing songs like this today?