The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3113   Message #4016240
Posted By: Jim Dixon
30-Oct-19 - 07:16 PM
Thread Name: Halloween Songs [1]
Subject: Lyr Add: TEN DEAD FINGERS (Thomas Baxter)
I heard someone sing this at a singaround recently, so I searched for it with Google and found it here. Sorry, I can’t remember the tune, and I don’t know anything more about the song.

TEN DEAD FINGERS
Copyright 1997 Thomas Baxter

1. Late at night, while the sexton slept,
One dead finger from the graveyard crept,
Crept to his kitchen, had a few drinks,
And fell asleep among the sausage links.

CHORUS: Ohhh, oh. Ohhh, oh.
Up from the graveyard watch it go,
Creeping its way into the night,
One dead finger in the pale moonlight.

2. Late one night, little fingers two
Hopped a ride upon the sexton's shoe,
Wriggled up his body inside his clothes,
Popped out his collar and tweaked his nose.

CHORUS: Ohhh, oh. Ohhh, oh.
Up from the graveyard watch them go
Creeping their way into the night
Two dead fingers in the pale moonlight.

3. Late one night, little fingers three
Strolled to the sexton's library,
Found a book unread for ages,
And the fingers went a-walking through its yellowed pages.

4. Late one night little fingers four
Climbed way up into the sexton's drawer,
Tied his underwear into knots,
And mismatched all his favorite formal socks.

5. Late one night around the midnight hour,
Five dead fingers climbed the old clock tower,
And when at twelve the carillon tolled,
The sexton heard them playing “Heart and Soul.”

6. Late one night, when he was tucked in bed,
Six fingers climbed onto the sexton's head
And kept him awake with their ghoulish prances—
Six dead fingers doing Morris dances.

7. Late one night in the cold and damp,
Seven fingers climbed up to the sexton's lamp,
And 'round and 'round each other they crawled,
And cast scary shadow pictures on the wall.

8. Late one night, when he was by himself,
The sexton saw them sitting on his shelf—
A horrible sight, which made him shudder,
Eight bored fingers just a-twiddling each other.

9. Late one night little fingers nine
Marched onto the table when the sexton dined.
Around the dinner plate marched that group,
Then they went skinny dipping in his noodle soup.

10. Late one night, in the moonlight cold,
Ten dead fingers from the graveyard rolled,
But nobody's seen them after that,
Not since the sexton got himself a cat.