“Dorothy” - a song about my chicken
Some of you may know I have chickens… where I almost need to change “have” to “had”. What started as several has dwindled down to 1 due to my neighborhood nemesis… raccoons.
Backstory
During the pandemic we all became a little bit more aware of self-sufficiency. One of the hobbies that I picked up was chicken farmer. The idea of fresh eggs in the morning, especially in an urban setting was beyond appealing. Dear friends the Hottensmiths, homesteaders and magical beings nearby, started out the herd early on with a few chickens. A couple more were added from my brother… and then the war started.
Now fast forward a bit, and I have sadly lost most of my brood to the vile beasts that I had mentioned prior, the notorious “city raccoon”. Akron has an unusual feature when it comes to the neighborhood water runoff system, in that they seem to stock it with thieving vermin.
I don’t need to go through the drawn out history of a slowly dwindling flock and a constant battle against the nocturnal trash pandas, but it can be said that I am losing.
Recently I had a break-in that took me down to one single chicken, Dorothy. Since then I have made further renovations to the coop (once again), and have taken some other precautions to keep her safe.
Now the song comes from me hanging out with Dan Socha (whom I hope we all know by now), and we were trying to put some words to a chord progression I had worked out. He mentioned something to the effect of a song about how raccoons killed all my chickens, and that morphed into a subtle love song that nods it’s hat to my sole yard bird, Dorothy.
Writing Process
I had put together a progression while messing around with ways to play chord inversions. I was really enjoying playing the E with a C-shape up on the 5th fret and doing an alternating bass. The rest of the chords where mainly built around that.
I originally was just using a standard C chord at the beginning, but Dan suggested making it sound a bit “older” by adding the 6th. That changed the entire way I was playing the song, and it settled into a crooner type tune, where I wanted it to almost feel like an old cowboy song.
The lyrics where mostly scratched out right before we left to go play a gig, so they all got written within the hour. I came back to the song the day after and tweaked a couple lines and finished the second verse, and there you have it, a song for a chicken.
Voice Memos
Scrap Page.
Sept 2022
Lyrics
She's roosting at home, I'm working in town
She's roosting at home, I'm working in town
Leave before the sun gets shining
Home and it's long past down
She's roosting at home, I'm working in town
Kicking up dirt, I sweep it under the rug
Kicking up dirt, I sweep it under the rug
Oh no I'm not bitter
Just doing it for the one I love
Kicking up dirt, I sweep it under the rug
There's a knock on her door, and she wants to play
There's a knock on her door, and she wants to play
A word to the wise
That's how her sisters got carried away
There's a knock on her door, and she wants to play
Dorothy my love, Dorothy my muse
I'm falling head over heels for you
Go on and pick me up
I'm here for you to use
Dorothy my love, Dorothy my muse