Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens
"Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" is a jump blues song, written by Alex Kramer and Joan Whitney. Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five recorded the song on June 26, 1946 and Decca Records released it on a 78 rpm record.
The single debuted on Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues Records Chart on December 14, 1946. It reached number one and remained at the top position for seventeen weeks, longer than any other Jordan single. It also reached number six on the broader Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The B-side, "Let the Good Times Roll," peaked at number two on the R&B chart.
Jordan's hit song popularized the expression "Nobody here but us chickens", but the phrase is older. Its first known appearance was a joke published as a reader-submitted anecdote in Everybody's Magazine in 1908 regarding a chicken thief, formulated as, "'Deed, sah, dey ain't nobody hyah 'ceptin' us chickens." From there, it was picked up by newspapers and reprinted far and wide.
