"Good morning," said the vicar, a banjo round his neck.
"We're digging up the crypt," he said, "to make a discotheque."
So we're writing to the bishop to say that we are shocked,
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.

At early morning services he plays a mandolin.
I've never been to hear him, but I know it is a sin,
So we're writing to the bishop to say that we are shocked,
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.

We love the merry organ and the bells across the snow.
We love the Church of England, although we never go,
And we love the dear old Bible, with "Jehovah" and "begat,"
It's not that we believe in it or anything like that.
It's not that we believe in it or anything like that.

Just marry us and bury us the way you used to do
With a blast upon your organ and not on your kazoo,
So we're writing to the bishop to say that we are shocked,
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.

We love the merry organ and the bells across the snow.
We love the Church of England, although we never go,
So we're writing to the bishop to say that we are shocked,
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.
The vicar is a beatnik, he ought to be unfrocked.



We had a record in the 1970s titled "Songs of Sydney Carter." This was on it. I am operating from a 40 - year-old memory here.