Till There Was Chicken Fat

Recently, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the news by not doing too well in a
noteworthy way:

We are giving parents, schools, and communities the tools to help children build healthy habits, strengthen their bodies, and discover what they’re capable of achieving.

Long before former First Lady Michelle Obama ever appeared in the news, a great leader ushered in an earlier health-conscious era, when childhood fitness was deemed essential as a pillar of America’s future. That man’s nephew recently said,

More than 60 years ago, my uncle, President John F. Kennedy, challenged America to make physical fitness a national priority because he understood that the strength of our nation begins with the health of our people…

By bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test and launching GetActive.gov/kids, we are giving parents, schools, and communities the tools to help children build healthy habits, strengthen their bodies, and discover what they’re capable of achieving.

The J.F.K. era was also presided over by a particular song, to which it is possible that more people have performed their calisthenics than to any other musical composition in history.

The anthem of that 1960s aspirational effort was “Chicken Fat,” which, aside from accompanying the largest total number of workouts, is a contender in another field: cringe-worthy lyrics. It’s so goofy, it is basically a self-parody.

There is nothing a gymnasium full of children or teenagers could do to it that it hadn’t already done to itself… and they had plenty of opportunity, because every school in America received a free phonograph record of “Chicken Fat.”

Who did it and why?

The creator of this masterpiece was Meredith Willson, more generally and widely known as the creator of “The Music Man” (which, incidentally, also included a song later recorded by the Beatles, “Till There Was You.“)

The government needed to send phonograph records into 142,000 schools, and several patriotic professionals stepped up to make it happen. Willson donated all his efforts for free, and so did Robert Preston, who was filming The Music Man at the time. During a break from the set, he slipped away to record “Chicken Fat.”

The original disc held the shorter “radio edit” on one side and the six-minute version for school gym class on the other. Capital Records made the actual discs for free, and they were often shipped with a printed instruction card illustrating the exercises, designed by a college football coach.

The Junior Chamber of Commerce got in on the act, financing the purchase and delivery of 50,000 copies to schools. Eventually, one way or another, American schools received around half a million free copies of the record, and some schools still faithfully carried out its instructions into the 1980s.

Plenty of Chicken Fat to go around

YouTube.com offers multiple versions of the song, including a very lively and humorous version from the University of Evansville Cheer Squad. This official website includes a summary of the fitness program’s history, methods, intentions, and aims, designed to reach into every school in the nation, and not only to arrive in those institutions, but to change the very nature of their goals and ambitions.

It goes without saying that the concept of achieving fitness was intended to move from the educational setting into every home in America. And into the military establishment if need be. Then, as now, the nation experienced a shortage of young men who could do Push-up #1, and then along came this perky, annoying song telling them to do 10. As we learn from material written by an uncredited author:

First, during and after World War II, the US Military became concerned over the high number of young men who, when drafted, proved to be too physically unfit to become part of the US Armed Forces. (Imagine what they would find today!)

Any new idea can attract more attention with some variety of fun, though it might be risky, because notions about what is or is not fun tend to vary widely. Speaking of fun, any aficionado will enjoy this Chicken Fat quiz, and may discover they don’t know as much as they thought.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “RFK Jr. mocked online after failing public fitness test,” MSN.com, undated
Source: “Secretary Kennedy Restores the Presidential Fitness Test, Launches Get Kids Active,”
www.HHS.gov, 06/29/26
Source: “Go You Chicken Fat, Go!,” YouTube.com, undated
Source: “University of Evansville Cheer Squad,” undated
Source: “Go, Chicken Fat, Go!,” LOC.gov, undated
Source: Boomers: “Do you remember exercising in school to ”Chicken Fat”?”, MeTV.com, 06/22/26
Image source: Pat Hartman