"The Goose" is a song by the funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 band Parliament

Parliament (band)

Parliament was a funk band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...

. It was released as a two-part single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, the group's first on their new label Casablanca Records

Casablanca Records

Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...

. It was also a track on their 1974

1974 in music

-January–April:*January 3 – Bob Dylan and The Band kick off their 40-date concert tour at Chicago Stadium. It's Dylan's first time on the road since 1966.*January 17...

 album Up for the Down Stroke

Up for the Down Stroke

Up for the Down Stroke is a 1974 album by Parliament. It was the band's second album , and their first to be released on Casablanca Records. The album's title track was Parliament's first chart hit and remains one of the most well-known P-Funk songs...

. The song failed to chart.

Like "Testify

Testify (Parliament song)

"Testify" is a song by the band Parliament. It is a funk reworking of the song " Testify", which was originally recorded in 1967 by The Parliaments and reached #3 on the Billboard R&B chart...

", "The Goose" was borrowed from the repertoire of bandleader and producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 George Clinton

George Clinton (funk musician)

George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...

's earlier doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 group The Parliaments

The Parliaments

The Parliaments were a doo-wop quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, formed in the back room of a barbershop in the late 1950s and named after the cigarette brand. After some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas...

. The lyrics use the story of the goose that laid the golden eggs

The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

Killing The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs is among the best known of Aesop's Fables and use of the phrase has become idiomatic of an unprofitable action motivated by greed.-The story and its moral:...

 as an eccentric metaphor for romantic attachment, an early instance of the references to fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s and nursery rhyme

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

s that would continue in Parliament's later releases.

This song was covered by the funk-rock band Fishbone

Fishbone

Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...

 and is included on their 1996 compilation album Fishbone 101: Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin' the Fonkay

Fishbone 101: Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin' the Fonkay

Fishbone 101: Nuttasaurusmeg Fossil Fuelin' the Fonkay is a two-CD 1996 compilation album by the alternative/funk/rock band Fishbone. The first disc contains album tracks from the Fishbone albums up to 1993. The second disc contains B-sides, alternate versions, EP tracks, demos, and other...

.