08 Jan 00 - 02:51 PM (#160007) Subject: Skin & Bones From: Fred Burns (burnsfg@cadvision.com) Has anyone else heard of an old song about "an old woman, all skin and bones" who "took it in her head one day, to hear the parson sing and pray"? I heard it as a child from my mother (usually late on a dark evening, preferably around Halloween). My Father says she learned it from his mother. I would be interested in finding any other lyrics than those I already know. Also see Halloween Songs |
08 Jan 00 - 03:56 PM (#160030) Subject: RE: Skin & Bones From: Joe Offer Hi, Fred - I've had some fun with that song. I make it up as I go along, since I have a hard time remembering lyrics. Click here for a previous discussion, and here for the version that's in our database. In this thread (click) Moira Cameron posted a version that's closest to what I sing. Max, thank you very much for the great search engine. -Joe Offer- |
08 Jan 00 - 04:08 PM (#160032) Subject: RE: Skin & Bones From: Barbara Joe, were you in the dining hall when -- I think it was Renee -- and I were comparing versions of this song? She sang one in the fireplace room the night before, and I was doing her my version. (I got my version from Paddy Graber) When I got to the place "The lady to the parson said, "EEEEEEEEYYYAaaaaahhhhgh!" The whole end of the dining hall fell silent and several people leaped to their feet to come to my aid. I'd made the erroneous assumption that it was so noisy in the dining hall that no one would hear a full voiced scream. I spent the next five minutes saying over and over, "No, I'm fine, it was just a song. Sorry." Blessings, Barbara |
08 Jan 00 - 11:21 PM (#160212) Subject: RE: Skin & Bones From: Sandy Paton Jean Ritchie has a family version that I'm sure she has recorded somewhere. I'll look through our stack of Jean's albums and see if I can find it. I'll have to get back to you on that, however. It's probably in her book,Singing Family of the Cumberlands, too. I recorded a version I learned from a girl in Seattle (about 50 years ago) on one of our children's cassettes: When the Spirit Says Sing - Folk-Legacy C-1002. That's the cassette that comes with the coloring book and which also contains a version of "The Devil and the Farmer's Wife" (see other thread). Sandy |
09 Jan 00 - 10:58 PM (#160588) Subject: Lyr Add: A WOMAN STOOD AT THE CHURCHYARD DOOR From: Malcolm Douglas Here is another one, which belongs to the second group mentioned by Iona & Peter Opie (The Lore & Language of Schoolchildren): THE WOMAN IN A CHURCHYARD, or, as I know it: A WOMAN STOOD AT THE CHURCHYARD DOOR I learned it when I was in the Wolf Cubs (as they were called then) in the early '60s. The song was sung only at Summer Camp, and we all had to promise not to tell the younger ones about it; that way they'd jump out of their skins like we had, when it was their turn to hear it. It made a big impression on me, and the words and tune stuck in my mind after only one hearing. A woman stood at the churchyard door Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah As many another woman had done before Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Saw three corpses carried in Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Very long and very thin Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Worms crawled in and worms crawled out Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Went in thin and came out stout Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Woman to the corpses said Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah "Will I be like you when I am dead?" Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Corpses to the woman said: (SCREAM!) Each line was sung quietly but emphatically; the refrain, with which everyone had to join, was very quiet. In the late '70s I played with an electric folk band in Sheffield, and we did the song a number of times at student venues -they jumped just as I had when I was 8 years old. I should mention that I had the song from a Mrs. Joyce Riddle, originally from Yorkshire, so perhaps this version was from there. The version quoted by the Opies, incidentally, is from London and is a recitation, not a song. The tune that I have is one of those trichord ones that belong particularly to children's and ritual songs (see also SOULING SONG, here, though I suspect that the tune given is taken from a commercial recording, and possibly a harmony line has inadvertently been incorporated into it at some point), the compass being in this case a minor third. Because I can't resist it, I'll post the tune to the midi site. Malcolm |
10 Jan 00 - 12:16 AM (#160625) Subject: Lyr Add: THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN ALL SKIN AND BONES From: Fred Burns Thanks to all for your replies. I should probably list the version I heard. There was an old woman, all skin and bones, Ooo Ooo Ooo She took it in her head one day to hear the parson sing and pray Ooo Ooo Ooo When she got to the churchyard style she stopped to rest a little while Ooo Ooo Ooo When she got to the church-house door she stopped to rest a little more Ooo Ooo Ooo When she got to the church within the parson prayed and she did sing Ooo Ooo Ooo She looked up and she looked down she saw a corpse upon the ground Ooo Ooo Ooo The woman to the parson said "will I look so when I am dead?" Ooo Ooo Ooo The parson to the woman said "you will look so when you are dead" Ooo Ooo Ooo The woman to the parson said (shriek!) Of course getting quieter and quieted on the last 2 or 3 verses. Fred Line Breaks <br> added. |
10 Jan 00 - 03:02 AM (#160653) Subject: Lyr Add: A WOMAN IN A GRAVEYARD SAT From: Metchosin I learned this in Grade 1 in the early 50's, and like Malcolm never forgot it. It lacks the ahs of his version though.
Woman in a graveyard sat |
10 Jan 00 - 03:19 AM (#160656) Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE SCARY SONG (SKIN & BONES) From: Joe Offer I guess I learned the song from the Fireside Book of Fun & Game Songs and altered it from there. Here's what the book has: THE SCARY SONG 1. There was an old woman, all skin and bones, Oo-oo-oo-oo. There was an old woman, all skin and bones, Oo-oo-oo-oo. 2. And she was full of grunts and groans... 3. One night, she thought she'd take a walk... 4. She walked down by the old graveyard... 5. She saw the bones all lying about... 6. She went to the corner to get a broom... She opened the door, and EEEEEEK! (Everybody shrieks wildly) No Barbara, I wasn't around when you were singing this song in the dining hall at camp. Darn. MIDI file: SKIN&B~1.MID Timebase: 192 Name: THE SCARY SONG (SKIN & BONES) This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here ABC format: X:1
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10 Jan 00 - 05:54 AM (#160663) Subject: RE: Skin & Bones From: Alan of Australia G'day, The MIDI that Malcolm sent for "A Woman Stood At The Churchyard Door" is now at the Mudcat MIDI site.
Cheers, |
12 Jan 00 - 01:34 AM (#161537) Subject: RE: Skin & Bones From: Stewie In their 'The Singing Island', Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger gave the following as used by children in Edinburgh as a 'frightening' rhyme in the early 20th century:
There was an old lady all skin and bone They commented also that American children had a more graphic version which ran:
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out |
12 Jan 00 - 01:39 AM (#161543) Subject: RE: Skin & Bones From: Barbara The version in DT has this description: 3. This lady she walked up and down She spied a dead man on the ground And from his nose unto his chin The worms crawled out and the worms crawled in (x 2) |
24 Sep 02 - 12:08 PM (#790342) Subject: Skin and Bones song From: GUEST,bet I'm trying to remember the words to a song of long........ ago. It starts out: I know an old woman all skin and bones, Oooo, Ooo Oo. She lived --- (something by a cemetary) Any of you know this song? I din't find it in the data base, but boy are there a lot of old woman songs there. I'm hunting easy songs for the choir on Hlloween. Thanks, bet Hi, Bet - I'm gonna move you and let people build on an existing thread instead of covering what's already been covered. |
24 Sep 02 - 08:37 PM (#790659) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: curmudgeon I first encountered this song on an obscure Riverside LP. "Ghost Ballads" sung by Dean Gitter. I never heard of him before or since, but he sang some very interesting songs, including Skin and Bones. I don't sing this very often as i want a fresh audience who is unfamiliar with the punch line -- Tom P.S. Michael Cooney does a great rendition of "The Worms Crawl In." |
24 Sep 02 - 11:20 PM (#790720) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: MAG The worm stuff I've only heard added on to The Hearse Song, which is most readily accessible in Sandburg's American Songbag. |
25 Sep 02 - 09:48 AM (#790944) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: bet Thanks for all your help. I haven't figured out where you have it in the data base , I did look there first but anyway thanks for the help! I too first hear it a Girl Scout camp with the promise not to tell younger ones about it. It always amazes me how many different versions there are to a simple song. bet Click here for the version that's in our database. I updated the dead link above. |
08 Jul 05 - 12:21 AM (#1517706) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: GUEST,Mine Truly I first came across this in a book... A woman in the graveyard sat, Oooooo Very shoot and very fat. Oooooo She saw three corpses carried in Oooooo Very tall and very thin. Oooooo To the corpses the woman said, Oooooo "Will I be like you when I am dead?" Oooooo To the woman the corpses said, Oooooo "You will be like us when you are dead." Oooooo To the corpses the woman said, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" I always thought she screamed because the corpses spoke. But during my search for the poem, I realized that she's supposed to scream because she realizes her own mortality. It's a deep meaning that many of the versions seem to have lost. And after reading various versions in this thread, I developed my own version which, in my mind, has the most important elements: - a woman visiting a church/graveyard (I think the fact she is going to church is significant, because even though this implies she's "good" she'll still end up this way) - the woman seeing a corpse in some sort of gruesome condition - the woman asking if she'll be like that when she's dead, and receiving the reply of "yes." - the woman screaming at the answer. The only key part it's missing is the woman being skin and bones, which gives the poem its name... but I left it out for the description of the corpses. Throw in the "ooooo"s wherever it feels natural. A woman in a graveyard sat Fresh out of church in her Sunday hat She saw three corpses carried in Nothing but bones and rotting skin To the corpses the woman said, "Will I be like you when I am dead?" To the woman the corpses said, "You will be like us when you are dead." To the corpses the woman said, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" [or something to that effect] |
07 Oct 12 - 05:23 AM (#3415771) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: GUEST,Misika A woman in a stood by the church yard gate Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah and it was very very late Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah Three corpses lay their stiff and thin Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah The worms crept out and the worms crept in Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah To the woman the corpses said, Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah "Will i be like that when i'm dead?" Oo-oo-oo-ooh, a-a-a-ah To the corpses the woman said, YES!! |
08 Oct 12 - 02:14 AM (#3416154) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: GUEST This was already an old English children's folk song when it was published in _Gammer Gurton's Garland_ (1810). Robert Southey (1774-1843), the English poet, wrote in his diary that this song always scared him when he was a little boy. He would beg his sisters not to sing it, but they always did, anyway. (From the liner notes of Adam Miller's "Along Came a Giant - Traditional American Folk Songs for Young Folks.) |
14 Jun 19 - 04:39 PM (#3996461) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skin & Bones From: GUEST when I was young my grandmother liked to scare the living daylights out of us at parties, in the firelight by saying; I stood by the churchyard gate. It was very dark and very late. I saw three corpse come within, Very pale and very thin. I said to the corpse, Shall I be like you when I am dead. The corpse said "" Yahhhh".(Say this as a yell) Seems very similar to your yarn.. This was back in 1949.. |