Willy's Several Deaths

How well do I remember the night that Willy died,
It was early, about twelve o'clock at night.
The cows were buzzing sweetly and the bees were chewing hay,
An the sun and moon were shining dark and bright.
You could see that he was dying by the freckles on his breath,
You could see the blossom nipping in the bud.
But the doctor said the only way to save our lad from death,
Was to stop the circulation of his blood.
'Twas on the forty-third of May that our Willy passed away,
He died harder tha he ever died before.
He was sitting on a chair, but he didn't like it there,
So he got up and died upon the floor.
So we gently place his head in a pail of boiling lead,
As we laid our little Willy out to rest.
But it really was a shame, 'cause that night a burgular came,
And he stole the mustard plaster off his chest.
Then we filled him full of glue in hopes to bring him to,
But we only brought him eight and nine and ten.
He was lying on his side, when he blew his nose and died,
Then he sneezed and blew his nose and died again.
No more upon the mat shall he play with pussy cat,
No more between his teeth he'll hold her tail.
No more on the red-hot coals, shall he gently rub her nose,
'Cause our Willy, darling Willy, kicked the pail.

From the James McWilliam Collection in the folder \Songs 1 Pure\ the text file "wllyded1.txt"