A fixture at singing competitions at the CBD Club in Wallaceburg has released a brand new song.
Mitchell resident Don McLean, also know as ‘The Chicken Man’, told the Sydenham Current the music and lyrics for his song ‘High Five’ came to him in his sleep.
“I watched this video of an audition when I tried out for a show called ‘The Shot’,” he said.
“I didn’t make it anywhere or anything. I didn’t get to go on the show or anything, but all of the judges wanted to high five me. So I watched that and then I went to bed that night. At like about 2:30 a.m. I woke up and wham, the song was right in my head, all the music and everything. It took about 15 minutes. All the words fit together and everything… it was just like unbelievable.”
McLean said he contacted The Black and Bluegrass Band to play on the track and they booked time at Skyline Studios in Mitchell, Ontario, where the song was recorded.
“The band was great,” he said.
“They were going to do it for free for me but I said ‘No. I have got faith in this song.’ Everybody get paid. So I paid them all $200 and a steak dinner for the days work. They came up and we all had the common interest to try and make a really good song and it actually did turn out good.”
McLean said he has been coming to Wallaceburg every year for about three or four years, competing in the Star Search Singing contests.
“They have got great singers in Wallaceburg,” he said.
“If you want to get better at the singing you got to go up against all the good ones. You learn a lot too when you do that. That’s why I come and it’s really fun too.”
McLean said his good friend Ray Tinning, who he used to attend the Wallaceburg contests with, died earlier this year.
“Me and him used to go everywhere and another friend, Mike Francis,” he said.
“He would go with me and a few others… my daughter would come along for the entertainment and stuff like that. It’s pretty fun.”
McLean said he thinks the song is helping the Tinning family get through their loss.
“Ray was a good fella,” he said.
“He found something in me that I never knew existed and he found it and brought it all out of me and everything. So I got to thank my friend Ray. He was a lot of fun and he was really nice to a lot of people. He is mentioned in the song. Definitely he is.”
You can listen to McLean’s tune, here:
