THE HEARSE SONG
Niles, Moore, Wallgren, © 1929

Did you ever think as the hearse rolls by
That the next trip they take they'll be layin' you by,
With your boots a-swingin' from the back of a roan
And the undertaker inscribin' your stone'?

When the old motor hearse goes rollin' by,
You don't know whether to laugh or cry.
For the grave diggers may get you too,
Then the hearse's next load may consist of you.

They'll take you over to Field Thirteen,*
Where the sun is shinin' and the grass is green,
And they'll throw in dirt and they'll throw in rocks,
And they don't give a damn if they break your pine box.

Oh, the bugs crawl in and the bugs crawl out,
They do right dress and they turn about,
Then each one takes a bite or two,
Out of what the war office used to call you.

Oh, your eyes drop out and your teeth fall in,
And the worms crawl over your mouth and chin,
They invite their friends and their friends' friends too,
And you're chewed all to hell when they're through with you.

* The cemetary of the Aviation Corps.
From "Songs My Mother Never Taught Me," John J. "Jack" Niles, Douglas S. "Doug" Moore, and A. A. "Wally" Wallgren, published abd copyright 1929 by The Macaulay Company.
Reproduced, with score, in Lomax and Lomax, 1934, "American Ballads and Folk Songs, pp. 556-557, The Macmillan Company.

Compare tune with "Old Woman All Skin and Bones," No. 142, Brown, North Carolina Folklore, vol. 5, The Music of the Folk Songs," 1962, p. 111-112, three variant tunes given.