The Traditional Ballad Index (above) says the second Hearse Songs comes from (Niles/Moore/Wallgren-SongsMyMotherNeverTaughtMe, 1929), and that the song in Lomax & Lomas is Hearse Song (I). But Lomax and Lomax got their version from Niles/Moore/Wallgren, so go figure.

THE HEARSE SONG

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 Cemetery of the Aviation Corps


Source: American Ballads and Folk Songs, pp 556-557 (by John A. Lomas and Alan Lomax, Macmillan, 1934)