In this song, Johnny Cash goes to the doctor and learns that his body has outlived his brain, so he has it removed and replaced by one taken from a bank robber that has been put to death. All goes well until he walks into a bank and gets an overwhelming urge to rob it. Turns out, he can't sing either, so when he appears at the Grand Ole Opry, he sticks up the audience. He wants his old brain back, but the doctor has put it in a chicken, who is now performing Johnny Cash songs and doing quite well. It's a goofy song along the lines of his classics "A Boy Named Sue" and "One Piece At A Time," and it did fairly well, reaching #45 on the Country chart. Cash later disowned it though, explaining in his autobiography that it was a parody aimed at his label, CBS, which dropped him two years later. He called it "intentionally atrocious."
This was written by Gary Gentry, who had minor Country hits on his own with "(S.O.B.) Same Old Boy" and "I Sold All of Tom T's Songs Last Night." Billy Sherrill produced the track.
Cash made a video for this song where he plays out the storyline, complete with his transformation into "The Manhattan Flash." He did a concept video in 1981 for his song "The Baron," but in that one he's in a pool hall looking super cool. "The Chicken In Black" taught him that his novelty songs were best heard and not seen, as he took a hit to his dignity.
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