Her big voice, her strong support of blues traditions and her distinctive style of playing make her one of the emerging greats of the blues.
Highly recommended are Blues In My Heart, an early acoustic blues album. and Lucky 13, a deliciously loose electric blues album.
Fiona Boyes has made a name for herself on the blues circuit, but when it comes to the specific types of blues that she performs, the Australian singer/guitarist/songwriter has not been the least bit easy to categorize or pigeonhole apart from saying that she is blues-oriented. Listening to Boyes for an hour or even half-an-hour, one is likely to hear a very wide variety of blues or blues-related styles. Texas blues, Chicago blues, Louisiana swamp blues, Memphis blues, and Mississippi Delta blues are all fair game for Boyes, who is as comfortable rocking out and embracing electric urban blues as she is playing acoustic guitar and embracing down-home country blues.
Boyes has never been a blues purist or a staunch blues traditionalist; rock & roll, soul, and jazz have influenced her work, and she obviously doesn't believe that a blues artist is obligated to favor a 12-bar format 100-percent of the time. But whatever she does — whether she is getting into jump blues, early R&B, blues-soul, rockabilly, or '20s- and '30s-style classic female blues of the Bessie Smith/Ma Rainey/Victoria Spivey variety — Boyes' work is always blues-related in some fashion. The artists Boyes has frequently found herself compared to include Bonnie Raitt, Marcia Ball, Susan Tedeschi, Lou Ann Barton, and Rory Block. Raitt, in fact, has been a major influence on Boyes, although Boyes' gritty work has a lot more in common with the Raitt of the '70s than with the sleeker, more polished and pop-minded Raitt of the late '80s, '90s and 2000s. But Raitt is only one of the countless artists who has had an impact on Boyes. An incredibly wide variety of artists has affected the eclectic Aussie to some degree, ranging from Smith, Rainey, Spivey, and Memphis Minnie to John Lee Hooker to Chicago-associated icons such as Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Koko Taylor, and Muddy Waters. Boyes obviously cherishes the Mississippi Delta country-blues of Robert Johnson and Son House, and she hasn't escaped the influence of Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin, either.
Boyes was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, where she started making her presence felt in blues circles in the late '80s. It was in 1990 that Boyes and four other Australian women formed an all-female blues band called the Mojos, who recorded five albums in the '90s (The Mojos in 1990, Hardheaded Woman in 1991, Sassy Mama in 1995, Mumbo Gumbo in 1996 and Swing O'Clock Blues in 1999) and acquired a small following Down Under (the Mojos that Boyes was a part of shouldn't be confused with a British Invasion rock group of the '60s). But Boyes became a full-time solo artist in 2000, providing her first solo album, Blues in My Heart, that year; the acoustic Blues in My Heart was followed by Gimme Some Sweet Jelly Roll in 2003 and Live in Atlanta in 2004. In the mid-2000s, Boyes signed with the Memphis-based Yellow Dog label, which released Lucky 13 in 2006 and Blues Woman in 2009.
Website: Fiona Boyes
Chicken Wants Corn
Fiona Boyes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He said 'if you know what you want, you got to go out and get it!'
Well, I know what I want
Just as sure as I'm born
'Cause I want you baby, like a chicken wants corn
That's how I want you...
I don't need no fortune teller to give me the news
And I know what I want
Just as sure as I'm born
I want you baby, like a chicken wants corn
I like the way you do the thing that you do
I want to play with you baby
You can play with me too...
I know what I want
Sure as I'm born
I want you baby like a chicken wants corn
A wise man told me - you know what he said?
He said 'if you know what you want, you got to go out and get it!'
Well, I know what I want
Just as sure as I'm born
'Cause I want you baby, like a chicken wants corn
That's how I want you...
The song "Chicken Wants Corn" by Fiona Boyes is a blues song that talks about the desire and longing for someone. The lyrics begins with a wise man telling the singer that she should go out and get what she wants. The singer then sings about how she knows what she wants and she wants the person she's singing to just like a chicken wants corn. The metaphor of a chicken wanting corn can be interpreted as a symbol of an animal that yearns for something that is essential to its life. The same way a chicken needs corn to survive, the singer needs her partner to fulfil her desire.
The following verse reaffirms the singer's love for the Blues and her knowledge of what she wants. She doesn't need a fortune-teller to tell her what she wants because it's innate to her, and it's the same love and affection she harbors for her partner. The last verse adds a little bit of playful seduction to the song with the singer expressing her desire to play with her partner, and she wants her partner to play with her as well. The theme of the song is straightforward, and it's about one's yearning for their desires and the need to go out and get it, as the wise man had suggested.
Line by Line Meaning
A wise man told me - you know what he said?
A wise man once shared with me his insights on life.
He said 'if you know what you want, you got to go out and get it!'
The wise man advised me to take action towards achieving what I want.
Well, I know what I want
I am fully aware of what I desire.
Just as sure as I'm born
I am completely certain of what I want.
'Cause I want you baby, like a chicken wants corn
I want you as much as a chicken desires corn - an intense longing.
That's how I want you...
This comparison illustrates the depth of my desire for you.
I don't need no fortune teller to give me the news
I don't require a fortune teller to predict my future.
'Cause I know, I was born for the Blues
I am certain that my destiny involves the Blues genre.
And I know what I want
I am confident in my desires.
I want you baby, like a chicken wants corn
My desire for you is as strong as a chicken's desire for corn.
I like the way you do the thing that you do
I admire your actions and behavior.
I want to play with you baby
I desire to engage in playful activities with you.
You can play with me too...
I am open to engaging in reciprocal playfulness.
I know what I want
My desires are clear and certain.
Sure as I'm born
I am absolutely certain about what I want.
I want you baby like a chicken wants corn
My desire for you is unparalleled, like a chicken's longing for corn.
A wise man told me - you know what he said?
The wise man's advice continues to resonate with me.
He said 'if you know what you want, you got to go out and get it!'
The wise man's words continue to inspire me to take action towards accomplishing my desires.
Well, I know what I want
My desires remain unchanged.
Just as sure as I'm born
I am certain of my desires.
'Cause I want you baby, like a chicken wants corn
My longing for you remains as strong as ever.
That's how I want you...
My desire for you is steadfast and unwavering.
Contributed by Colton I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.