The eyes of the world will be on Coney Island again on Saturday, when two-time world hot-dog-eating champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut faces off against Takeru Kobayashi, the six-time champion who redefined competitive eating greatness before Chestnut dethroned him in 2007.
So who better to set the stage for this Saturday’s high-noon confrontation than the Bard of Coney Island himself, Amos Wengler?
Excited by the coming battle (or, perhaps, merely suffering from indigestion from eating too many hot dogs — sometimes it is hard to tell), Wengler journeyed to our Downtown offices to sing his classic, “Hot Dog Time,” which he performs every year before the contest at the Nathan’s Famous stand at the corner of Stillwell and Surf avenues.
To fully appreciate this classic, follow along with the lyrics:
Hot Dog Time
By Amos Wengler
Well it’s hot dog time,
It’s contest time
For Chestnut and Kobayashi.
The biggest eaters in the world
Are in for quite a noshing.
Who’s gonna be the next new champ?
That’s what we’ll be watching!
It’s hot dog time
It’s contest time
From Nathan’s in Coney Island.
The crowd is getting mighty big
The hot dogs are a-piling.
If Chestnut wins the belt this time
Koby is resigning.
Well they crunch it up and they munch it up
And they shove them down their gut.
When it comes to eating those Nathan’s franks
These boys can eat a lot.
They dunk their buns,
The crowd cheers on
For Chestnut and Kobayashi.
