The legend behind the song. Cherokee and Lenape Indian Legends tell what happened when Possum and Turkey Buzzard encountered the sun. While the legends differ in minor details, both legends tell of disastrous results when forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do.
The legend began far, far away, long, long ago.
Rooster waited for the sun to appear above the boundary between land and sky. Rooster was, of course, a rooster. Everyone called him Rooster, so Rooster became his name. Rooster thought he was king of the animals. He planned to greet the early morning sun by crowing “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” which was Rooster’s way of saying, “Good Morning!”
The sun did not appear. The more Rooster waited, the more anxious Rooster became. Rooster paced in the darkness. “Will today ever begin?” Rooster asked himself. “What has happened to Sun?”
Rooster decided to investigate, but not before recruiting help from his friends, Buzzard and Possum.
Back in the time long, long ago, Buzzard was a beautiful bird with gorgeous feathers. Buzzard was greatly admired by all of the animals.
Buzzard was sleeping high in a tree when Rooster called.
“Wake up!” shouted the always excitable Rooster. “Wake up!”
“But it’s dark,” complained Buzzard.
“That’s why you need to wake up. The sun has not come up.” screeched the agitated rooster.
“Good,” mumbled Buzzard, “then, I can spend the whole day in bed.”
“It’s time to rise and shine. Now! It’s time to move,” ordered Rooster.
“You remind me of my mother on school days,” growled Buzzard as he hid his head under his pillow.
“Get up, get out of bed. Get up, you sleepy-head,” bellowed the excited rooster. “You’ve just got to do something!”
Again, Rooster rapidly explained that it was still night time, Sun had not come up, and the day had not yet begun. To get Buzzard out of bed, Rooster crowed, “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” into Buzzard’s ear, which caught Buzzard’s attention.
Realizing that Rooster would not leave him in peace, Buzzard got out of bed slowly. No one ever wins an argument with Rooster. Buzzard resolved to visit Sun to find out why Sun was missing from the sky. Buzzard flew to a cave on the side of a mountain where Sun sleeps during night.
Sun was like a big bear woken from a long winter’s sleep. Sun was grumpy, grouchy, and cranky. He just wanted to stay in bed and snooze.
Rather than taking a gentle approach by cheerfully saying “Good Morning,” Buzzard took a direct approach. Buzzard placed his head against Sun and flapped his giant wings. Buzzard tried to push Sun out of bed. This was the wrong approach. Buzzard’s beautiful feathers caught fire and were singed. In a puff of smoke, Buzzard’s feathers turned black and ugly and Buzzard’s head was bare. Buzzard flew out of the cave and down the mountain to tell Rooster about his disastrous experience.
After seeing and listening to Buzzard, Rooster thought for a few minutes and declared, “We need reinforcements!”
Possum was asleep in his burrow. A long time ago, Possum had a big, lush, furry tail that other animas envied. Rooster ran to the burrow and shook the sleeping Possum awake.
“Wake up!” shouted Rooster, “Wake up!”
“Go away,” muttered Possum.
“It’s dark. The sun has not come up,” shouted Rooster. “It’s time to rise and shine. Now, it’s time to move. You’ve got to do something!”
Possum reluctantly staggered out of bed. Possum stomped up the mountain to the cave where Sun slept. Rather than gently saying “Good Morning,” to wake Sun, Possum took a direct approach. Possum tried to pull Sun out of bed. But Possum’s tail caught fire. In a flash, all of the lush fur was burned off Possum’s tail. Possum turned and fled out of the cave and ran down the mountain to tell Roster about his frightening experience.
“I must wake the sun myself,” declared the determined Rooster.
Rooster flew up the mountain to the cave where Sun slept. Being careful to not get too close, Rooster sang his famous call “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” which echoed off the cave walls, down the mountain and across the trees and land.
Rooster sang the Wake Up Song:
Cock-a-doodle-doo
Cock-a-doodle-doo
It’s time to rise and shine
Now it’s time to move
Get up, get out of bed
Get up, you sleepy head
Cock-a-doodle-doo
Cock-a-doodle-doo
Sun woke up and yawned. Sun slowly climbed out of bed and stretched. Sun flew out of the cave and up into the sky. Sun appeared above the boundary that separates land from sky. Night changed to day. The color of the sky changed from black to blue. The color of the trees changed from gray to green, and other colors appeared everywhere as dark changed to light.
Buzzard declared, “Perhaps I was too forceful by trying to push Sun out of bed.”
Possum added: “And perhaps I was too forceful by trying to pull Sun out of bed. Like Rooster, we should have encouraged Sun to get out of bed.” Encouraging words often succeed where physical force fails.
Pleased that he was able to accomplish what Buzzard and Possum had failed, Rooster crowed, “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” again and again, boasting his success to the world.
To this day, buzzards are black with bald heads, possums have bare tails, and rosters believe that they must crow “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” every morning to wake the sun.
Each morning when you wake up, if you listen carefully, you might hear Rooster’s song.
The right thing to do: This story illustrates how trying to force some to do something they do not to do sometimes fails. Often is it better to encourage rather than force
Performance Notes: The chorus can be sung by itself to wake someone up from sleeping, or simply to celebrate the morning. Try crowing like a roster while singing the song. See youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e1rlQDVJBY or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fCbG5HfgCg to see how much fun people have crowing like rosters.
The performers for this song were Wendy Kempfer and Jim Larson.
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