Chicken on a Raft - The Young Tradition

[MetFanMac]

Love this song, it's so catchy.

Part of the genius of this rendition is the distinctive drawn-out "aft" in the chorus, which wasn't in the original composition.

[BoBoSeph]

Chicken on a raft=French on naval ships

[shantyman62]

@BoBoSeph Eggs on toast

[jrodigan5]

My brother and I sing this whenever we're in one of our cars.

[MonsterJonster]

I like the part when they say "chicken on a raft!"

[gaspode18]

Jimmy = Jimmy-the-One = 1st lieutenant

Comic Cuts = Orders

Dabtoes = seamen

Dustmen = stokers

middle, forenoon = watches

Whalin' crew = Whaler's Crew / Whaler = Ship's boat

pusser = purser

Hope this helps a bit.

[pugwashsecond]

@gaspode18 Cheers - never knew the meaning of 'Comic Cuts' but it makes sense :-)

[bananachip33]

AYO CHICKEN ON A RAFT.

[shnunk1]

Chicken on a raft: 10 hours.

[mikkyluv1]

So gonna go around the Ren Faire singing this

[lilchris943]

anyone else get this on stumble?

[someone4guitar]

good drinkin song

[haseoice]

Am I only the one that wants to hear some accordion in the background?

[aonbyte]

awesome

[WishesSetFree]

This is going to be the new big thing. It's gotta be.

[tomerik112]

found that shit on the most pointless websites site

[justthemailman]

So if I understand this song correctly, these guys are singing, on a ship, and lamenting their breakfast, complaining about work and girls?

[pugwashsecond]

@justthemailman sounds reasonable to me

[connyluckirby9]

chicken on her ass.

[Stizou777]

best thing beatles has produced.

[gamefreek41795]

Nyan cat is better

[thenewgeogzm]

@gamefreek41795 get out

[TheKetsuban]

Hi-ho, 136 chickens on a raft!

[gerberberick908]

only 1 is a chicken on a araft

[hornedfrog5]

what does "chicken on a raft" even meen?????

[jessicaf9611]

:)))ive been with the chicken for days now....

[redstrabrerreez]

CHICKEN ON A RAFT



[tbagger1096]

the dislike button is the size of justin biebers penis :D

[HaleyOakie]

i was on chickenonaraft last night for 45 minutes or more ahahhahha!<3

[maverickDUH]

And one person didn't stay on the raft with the chicken.

[maverickDUH]

This is a catchy ass song!

[yuckyfart]

Catchy

[iAmy122]

....i memerized this song and ive been singing it every day no knowing i was :( one of these songs u cnt forget

[zelpree]

This song is the best song ever in all of my history ever.

[thatstrangerapperkid]

chickenonaraft. com I lasted for 1 hour 21 minutes 38 seconds

[beggarboys23]

At least it's not repetitive, oh wait...

[smallmercy]

This was the first 'Traditional' song I ever sang joining in the harmonies with a couple of lads who had obviously learned it from the YT. As it turns out it isn't exactly traditional, but it's a damn fine song and the YTversion is still the best I've ever heard.

[MewSumomo1]

I accidently listened to this song for two hours ._.

[19shanedoan19]

chickenonaraft . com I lasted about 45 mins.

[weegeeluv3r]

@19shanedoan19 i lasted 1 hr 8 min 32 sec BEAT DAT!

[19shanedoan19]

@weegeeluv3r Please don't challange me. I don't want to be addicted. Ahh crap I just logged on to the site.... Here we go.

[1nsp1]

Heard YT singing this in Redcar Yorkshire (around 1966)

Great performance and brings back memories!!

[Codeluvabunneh14]

HOLY CRAP!!its a rl song!!*w*

Thats just amazing

[gathyman]

@Codeluvabunneh14 Hahaha i know

[kartoffel13]

this is somehow intriguing. i could stay on chickenonaraft . com for hours

[THEPRESTIGE1995]

This must be the new 'Look at my horse'.

[zillyzachary]

chickenonaraft. com

I've been listening to this song for an hour XD

[AlistairHardie1]

@zillyzachary 5 hours, my brain is mush :|

[Darkgamer987]

@zillyzachary

Try 3 days while simultaneously Nyan-ing.

[grimecube]

@zillyzachary Really? Just an hour? We've done a contest, who could listen to it the longest. I clocked 79 hours and a few minutes.

[dannynannady]

epic!!!

[smeghead1851]

I spoke with Tom Lewis ( the Ancient Submariner) about this song. He indicated that often it was served as a fried or poached egg, on toast, but served cold. Nothing like a cold greasy fried egg on a Monday morning after your run ashore. I guess that's what led to Cyril's other great song, "on a Monday Morning ".

[pugwashsecond]

@smeghead1851 This topic came up at the weekend of singing I was at, and the outright consensus is that yes, it is the cold, greasy egg on toast. A terrible prospect on a Monday or any morning come to that :-)

[smeghead1851]

The late Jonathan Eberhart covered this song on his album Life's Trolley Ride. In his note he stated that dabtoes were deck crew ( Swabbies in the USN) and dustmen referred to the Black Gang or stokers in the engine room. I like the idea of the sailor calling the shakers and butter in his vernacular !

[byakuugan86]

This is a rare and wonderful song. Thank you.

[johnnyrafter]

Chicken on a raft is, of course, a bird situated on a structure that floats on water.

[smeghead1851]

I always thought chicken on a raft was a fired or poached egg on toast; but left over from the day beofre, cold and greasy , the last thing you want to see in the morning after you've had a run ashore !

[lolomouse]

love this so much! thanks for posting xx

[zimmermanhead]

I hadn't heard of 'dabtoes' either. I got that from a mate who had the commonsense to ask Cyril Tawney. He confirmed my 'dustmen' theory too.

I once heard a group singing it at a folk festival - Chester or Bromyard, I think. They sang "doctors forrard" - a total 'mondegreen' if I ever heard one.

[zimmermanhead]

With 'dabtoes' and 'dustmen' you were well wide of the mark. Dabtoes is simply a name for butter; the dustmen were the salt and pepper shakers - as in 'pass the dustmen' a common enough cry at mealtimes aboard ship.

Great song, great performance. It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck when I first heard the YT sing it in a folk club.

[pugwashsecond]

Interesting how traditions evolve, quite where I got the ideas for dabtoes and dustmen from I'm not quite sure. I do know that I didn't just pull the info out of thin air - I ain't that good :-) so somewhere I must have seen a reference to their slang usage. Just had a look at the RN site and there is no mention of 'dabtoes' but the 'dustman' is a now obsolete reference to a Stoker rating. Certainly Peter Bellamy got me singing unaccompanied songs, though not as well. take care P

[zimmermanhead]

I'm going to throw another spanner into the works.

'Chicken on a raft' was egg on toast. Fried or poached it made no difference. Don't think was ever served scrambled eggs in my days in the RNR/RNVR. 'Pusser' is a corruption of 'Purser' whose duties were to oversee supply and issue of victuals, slops (clothes) and other consumables. In the nineteenth century the rank was made a commissioned rank and another aspect of the Purser's duty appeared - paying the crew became his responsibility.

[pugwashsecond]

As I said in an earlier reply I was in the real navy not the Royal Navy, so some of the RN slang is lost on me. I will concede thatI got pusser wrong - my apologies. However searches through Mudcat Cafe and several other sites do seem to indicate the dabtoes were indeed seaman (not necessarily AB's though). There alos seem to be quite a conflict as to how the bread was served, i.e. fried or toasted, again my mistake. The overall opinion is that the egg was fried. Peter

[musewolfman]

@pugwashsecond

... the /real/ navy??? The RN isn't real?

[DdlyHeadshot]

@pugwashsecond Real Navy? What, the Greek Navy? Surely you can't be thinking of one that hasn't existed for even 300 years?

[pugwashsecond]

@DdlyHeadshot When I was doing my Mate's ticket we all had to learn the International Signal Code, not only single flags but some of the 2 flag hoists. To help remember them we had little tricks - so 'YG' which meant "You appear to be contravening Rule 10 of the Collision Regulations (Conduct of Vessls using a Seperation Scheme) was 'You Greeks'. They always managed to get into trouble, but must have been good seamen 'cos they always nearly always got out of it :-)

[Orvandel]

I love this folks, thanks.

[rmephh]

Wow!!! - God, it's been eons since I heard this song! I was just a wee kid when I first heard it and believe it or not the harmonies & tune sounded so harsh it scared me, but then I was a tiny kid. Now, typically, I'm singing along with it at the top of my voice. Excellent, thanks for uploading.

[Ambidexter143]

A Pusser is a Paymaster Officer (supply officer), not a Chief.

[pugwashsecond]

Oh dear, it seems I did get quite a lot wrong with this one :-) Thanks very much for the information, always good to learn something new everyday huh ? I was in the Merchant Navy for 30 years so Royal Navy slang is a bit of a foreign languge to me, Take care P

[johnnyrafter]

I think it's fried egg on bread actually.

According to wikipedia, and that's never wrong.

Peter Bellamy has got such a voice.

[Idontsubscribetonos]

Sad to say Peter is sadly some years dead. Took his own life. Sad loss to the world.

[BRANOFNF]

I swear it is fried egg tbh.

[pugwashsecond]

I don't think it really matters so I will bow to your greater knowledge. I just enjoy the song :-)

[BRANOFNF]

Lol. Fair play man; it is a really fun song. I just learned it from some guys at Priddy say three years back and that's what they said so I guess it's open all the same he heh. They sang this brilliant version of Roll the Old Chariot Along as well.

[kdonofrio22]

Thank you. Please post more Young Tradition!

[safemypikey]

CHICKEN ON A RAFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[themazewithin]

I always thought a chicken on a raft was a fried egg on toast

[FENNYMAN]

So did I.

[jeana1001]

I love this song, have the LP.