Funny, although this was recorded earlier than the last one, it sounds more modern to my ears. I guess the country-based rockabilly got off to a slower start than the blues-&-gospel-based R&B did. Well, that's my impression, for what it's worth.


FARE THEE WELL, DEACON JONES
As recorded by Bull Moose Jackson, 1948.

It was a stormy Monday morning and the church was very bare.
The roof was really leaking and the rain was ev'rywhere.
The whole congregation stayed at home,
So poor old Deacon Jones was there alone.
He was laid out in a coffin, a coffin dressed in red,
Where just the night before they'd pronounced the deacon dead.

There was a little old lady sittin' in the church,
Sittin' in the church a-moanin' low.
That same little old lady who was sittin' in the church
Jumped up, shook her head, shook her hips and then she said:

"Fare thee well! Deacon Jones has passed away. (Fare thee well!)
Fare thee well! Deacon Jones has passed away. (Fare thee well!)
He was my old man for years,
And he sure could shift his gears.
Fare thee well, Deacon Jones, fare thee well!" (Fare thee well!)

The storm it kept on raging. The rain it poured down fast.
It even flooded the coffin where we saw the deacon last.
The coffin began to rock. The sister ran to hide.
I jumped behind a bench and this is what I spied:

Old Jones began to rise.
Jones had bloodshot eyes.
He drank a cup of rain,
And shouted this refrain:

"Oh, you goin' to hell, all you sinners, you goin' to hell. (Goin' to hell!)
Fare thee well, all you sinners, fare thee well! (Fare thee well!)
Oh, you know I didn't say I died.
I was just layin' here occupied.
You goin' to hell, all you sinners, 'cause you died.

"'Cause I'm the greatest deacon, the best you've ever seen.
Y'all hate ol' Deacon Jones, ....(?)
I'm the greatest jockey and I love to ride the best.
I don't want no hockey. Now, how 'bout that mess?

"Fare thee well, all you sinners, fare thee well!
Fare thee well!"