The following five questions and topics address a very old issue involving a chicken and a road. In spite of many hours given to thinking about this topic, by myself and legions of others, many issues are unresolved even as we speak (or write). One brave chicken, one empty road, and a million synapses firing all at once all lead us to this juncture. Follow the links and then contribute something to help finish the story:
Twitter your immediate thoughts and include #chickenroad in your Tweet …
Leave a comment if there’s something you want to highlight for readers, or warn them about …
Write a story that addresses the following points and/or questions and send it to jguidry.7@gmail.com. We’ll talk about it, but mainly I’ll be looking to repost your story here.
Now … here we go.
First: Which of the following roads (paths, lanes, etc.) was the chicken trying to cross, and in what way did it matter? Each link takes you to the appropriate song (or book).
• the road less travelled
• the hillbilly highway
• the long and winding road
• the path of least resistance
• the lost highway
• the road to nowhere
• highway 61 revisited
Second: When the bear went over the mountain, he saw the other side of the mountain, to be sure, but winding through the valley below was one of the aforementioned roads (paths, lanes, etc.). Alongside the road was a chicken. Note: the bear was hungry.
Third: In the middle of the road is Paul McCartney. Do they do it in the road? Or not? And what is “it,” specifically?
Fourth: As the bear reaches the road in the valley below, along with the chicken and Paul McCartney, “she” is coming round the mountain, when she comes, when she comes, driving eight white horses, and etc. What happened next? Who is “she?” And why were the horses white?
Fifth: Should any character in your story “live happily ever after,” please explain how, and why, in precise terms.
Notes and Credits
Photograph of chicken in the road: Ian Britton, August 29, 2004.
The drawings in the Bob Dylan video for Highway 61 Revisited are by a man named Giovanni Rabuffetti. I can’t find a home page for him or a Wiki entry, but I found this entry on him on a blog called White Rabbit by a guy named Andrew Keogh. I think it’s beautiful art, and there’s a lot of hits for drawings by Rabuffetti if you google him, including this video with animation by Rabuffetti for “All Along the Watchtower.”
One of the featured videos here is from The Beatelles, an all female Beatles tribute band from Liverpool. You can learn a lot more about them here and here. And if you like this, see The Beladies, who were the first all-woman Beatles band, hailing from Buenos Argentina.
And considering the road and highway theme of this posting, I can’t resist the temptation to post another favorite highway song by a favorite songwriter, Steve Earle, “The Long Lonesome Highway Blues.” Enjoy.
truth and rocket science 