Bob Kames and the Chicken Dance

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

If Bob Kames wasn't Milwaukee's own music man, it wasn't for lack of trying.

Kames was, after all, the man credited with the modern-day version of "Dance Little Bird," better known as "The Chicken Dance." He operated his Bob Kames Wonderful World of Music stores here for 42 years. He performed professionally, including a stint with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. He produced his own television specials and recorded more than 70 albums.

Kames, who had struggled with Alzheimer's disease in recent years, died Wednesday of prostate cancer. He was 82.

He was born Robert Kujawa, the son of a south side alderman, Valentine Kujawa, and Esther Kujawa. He began playing the piano at 12. As a teenager, he started working for 25 cents an hour as an usher at a south side theater. He had just been named manager of the old Warner Brothers Theater when he got a draft notice from the U.S. Army.

He was serving for about a year when a chaplain heard him playing the piano at a Red Cross center at Fort Sheridan, Ill. The chaplain asked if he could play the organ.

The young private didn't know but thought he could.

That was how Kujawa got his first real gig, becoming a chapel organist and the chaplain's full-time assistant.

"He got the name 'Kames' when the announcer on Armed Forces Radio couldn't pronounce Kujawa," said his son, Bob Kames Jr.

...As for that "Chicken Dance," even a self-promoter like Kames couldn't quite believe how it caught on.

His record producer heard the song at a German music fair in 1982 and shipped it right off to Kames, who recorded his version the same week.

"This stupid little thing, it's infectious," Kames said, speaking in 1995. "It has only two chords, it doesn't even change for the bridge. It implants the melody in people's minds - it just sticks in there. That's gotta be the secret.

"It just keeps on going. People come up to me at jobs and tell me how happy it makes them," Kames said. "You get a song like this once in a lifetime."

Kames' career accomplishments are many but the one that probably brought the most joy is the Chicken Dance.

Think of how many families and friends have danced to that song at wedding receptions and anniversary celebrations!

Thank you, Bob Kames!