Mike the Headless Chicken

The other week I shared a blog post about the town of Fruita, Colorado–a town that is “famous” for, among other things, its Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. Faithful reader Brian W informed me that his brother-in-law Timothy has written and performed a song about Mike at the festival. (How come my relatives don’t have credits like that to their name?) In the 1980s Timothy made records as Timothy P and the Rural Route Three, whose music has been described as “a blend of country, honky-tonk, and hippie rock styles.” A Facebook page suggests he’s still in the business. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find an actual recording of his Headless Chicken song.

This got me interested in discovering what kind of a song one could write about this Headless Chicken. And I discovered that it’s a somewhat popular subgenre on YouTube. Here are a few examples for your entertainment and/or edification:

Feel free to write and record your own Mike the Headless Chicken song, and I’ll post it on this blog. Meanwhile, if you need inspiration, the following “children’s cartoon” about the story of Headless Mike is simultaneously informative and unsettling: