But I think of this as a children's camp song, not a military song. This version from Fowke is more like what I remember from childhood, as is the Judy Cook version from the Digital Tradition.


THE HEARSE SONG

Did you ever think when you see a hearse
That some day you'll be as bad or worse?
They'll take you away in a big black hack;
They'll take you away, but they won't bring you back.
A-woo—oo! A-woo-oo!

They'll take you out and they'll lower you down;
They'll shovel you into that cold, cold ground.
They'll throw in dirt, and they'll throw in rocks,
And they won't give a damn if they break the box

The worms crawl out and the worms crawl in;
They crawl all over your mouth and chin.
Your eyes drop out and your teeth fall in,
And your limbs drop off of you, limb by limb ...

The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out;
They crawl in thin and they crawl out stout.
They invite their friends and their friends' friends too,
And you look like hell when they're through with you


Collected from Saskatchewan Summer Camps in the 1930s.

Source: Page 109, Ring Around the Moon, by Edith Fowke (NC Press Limited, Toronto 1987)