Mule Skinner Blues was written and first recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, the Father of Country Music, back in 1930 – and a hit for The Fendermen in 1960.

The first time it became a hit single was exactly 30 years later when it was covered by an American rockabilly duo from Minnesota called The Fendermen, performing a novelty version with yodels and chuckles and what sounds like an impression of a chicken or duck.

It was the only hit single for Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey, who chose their name from their brand of guitars – a Telecaster and Stratocaster plugged into the same amp.

It was their producer William Dreger, who helped launch the duo and came up with the ending of the song which comes to a close with a sudden: “Cha cha cha.” The song reached No.5 on the Billboard chart and crept into the UK singles chart at No.32.

The song tells the tale of a down-on-his-luck mule skinner (apparently a man who herds the animals, aka a muleteer, rather than actually removing their hide), approaching “The Captain” for work by offering his skills – “I can pop my ‘nitials on a mule’s behind” – in return “a dollar and a half a day.”

The lyrics are adapted from an earlier 12-bar blues tune called Labor Blues by Tom Dickson, in which the exchange is clearly between a white boss (“Captain”) and a black worker (“Shine”) who is not applying for the job but quitting it because he hadn’t been paid. 

For me the best version, also known as Blue Yodel No.8, is by Jimmie Rodgers: one of the building blocks of what would become country-and-western music.

Other artists to record the song include bluegrass legend Bill Monroe – his first ever recording, in 1940 – and Woody Guthrie in the 1940s, while Bob Dylan played it in his early folk days – captured on a recording where he keeps getting it wrong and has to start again.

More memorably, Dolly Parton had a US hit with her version in the 1970s and another favourite – and the one I heard first – was by The Cramps on their 1990 album Stay Sick.