Know Your Chicken Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Triskelionist 

Cover art for Know Your Chicken lyrics by Cibo Matto

It's very possible that this was just a drunken scribble-fest, but there is a distinct storyline to me... about a person growing up and learning responsibility by having pets.

The story starts with the singer buying two baby chicks on the street... One was male (blue), and one was female (magenta).

The rooster ran away or died, but the chicken grew to adulthood (and probably was nice and fat). She (the chicken) was noisy and would bite the singer all the time.

The singer eventually met a lover who was a butcher's daughter and cooked the chicken for them one night. The chicken was delicious, and was missed (inferred by the fact that the owner asked where the lover got the chicken).

The chorus seems to talk about how the singer got to know the chicken before it was eaten, something that not many people experience.

As a result of raising the chick to a chicken, the singer learned about responsibility, discipline, and caring for another living creature ("spare the rod, spoil the chick"... maybe the chicken used to bite because it was spared discipline? there's also possibly a dual-meaning of sparing the chicken's life and letting the source of meat spoil?)... The "before you shit a brick" part is probably referring to listeners' reactions to eating the pet chicken, and ties into what the singer is learning about life (it's just a chicken... better to eat it than let it grow old and go to waste).

The singer concludes the story by saying the lover went off to learn about anatomy (maybe to become a doctor?), and the singer followed the lovers' father's trade, becoming a butcher. The singer and the lover have two children (one boy and one girl) and the singer will probably apply the responsibility and maturity they learned through raising a pet to raising their kids.

My Interpretation

Always thought this song was about the importance of cunnilingus. Chicken is pussy. You've got to know your chicken. "Spare the rod (dick) and spoil the chick" could be a reference to making sure you spoil that pussy with some oral before you think about applying the "cock" (no pun intended).

But then, I'm orally fixated so maybe all songs are about cunnilingus to me. ;-D