Download Instrumental   How many songs have been written about birds?  There’s “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”, “Fly Like an Eagle”, a jazz tune simply called “Birdland”, “Eye On the Sparrow”, “Bye, Bye Blackbird”, and not to forget “Free Bird”.  And there are dozens of others.  But the king of them all is our boy “Rockin’ Robin”.

This song was recorded in 1958 by Bobby Day, whose real name was, appropriately, Robert Byrd.  It was written by a chap named Leon Rene under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas.  Makes you wonder what they called each other during the production of this classic piece.  “Hey Jimmie, I mean Leon, I don’t like this line”.  “Well, Bobby, I mean Mr. Byrd, stuff it – sing it anyway!”  Would have been confusing, I think.

Bobby Day (or whatever) had a number one R&B hit with this one almost as soon as it was released. In the next two decades, “Rockin’ Robin” was covered by such artists as Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent (remember him?), and Cliff Richards (I’ll bet you really don’t remember him).  The song sort of languished for 14 years before one Michael Jackson got ahold of it in 1972.  Suddenly it was all fresh and new – Jackson really did put his mark on it.  Many people think he wrote it and sang it first.  I guess you have to be of a certain age to know it was done long before Michael Jackson came on the scene.  I, fortunately, am of that certain age.

My arrangement draws closely from the Jackson version.  It’s livelier and just more fun to perform.   I never liked flutes doing the “birdie” parts, but you have to use them – what other instrument sounds remotely like a bird?  I just think flutes in a rock’n’roll song don’t belong – takes away from the meat of the thing.  I daresay Ian Anderson would disagree.