Dead animal songs

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 May 21 - 03:16 PM

That's hilarious, Jim Dixon.

Subject: Lyr Add: THREE DRUNK NEWTS (Barnes & Barnes)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 May 21 - 02:16 PM

Blackcat2 mentioned this song back on 23 Dec 99, in a different thread: Animal Songs. Since this song involves the death of the animals, I thought it more appropriate to post the lyrics here.


THREE DRUNK NEWTS
As recorded by Barnes & Barnes on “Voobaha” (1980) (Tune: Three Blind Mice)

Three drunk newts, three drunk newts.
See how they crawl; see how they crawl,
Creeping down your legs and feet,
Looking for a snack to eat.
They can’t even keep the beat,
Three drunk newts, three drunk newts.

Three stoned newts, three stoned newts,
High as kites, yes, high as kites,
They rumble in the parking lot.
They scored a lid of seedless pot
Really hope they don’t get caught,
Three stoned newts, three stoned newts.

Three wild newts, three wild newts,
Causing a scene, they’re rowdy and mean.
They licky sticky loopy juice.
They’re off to punish and abuse.
Look out, ‘cause they’re on the loose:
Three wild newts, three wild newts.

Look at their tails; aren’t they pretty?
Look at their tails; itty-bitty.
Wish I had a tail,
But I don’t.

[spoken] Let me tell you a tale about a trio of hot newts on parade.
They had Saturday newt fever, and they was burning.
They got a little too hot, dig?

Three dead newts, three dead newts,
See how they rot, see how they rot,
Left out in the noonday sun,
Dry and stiff and too well done.
That’s the end of their newt fun,
Three dead newts, three dead newts,
Three dead newts.

[spoken] They’re gone now,
Lived life too hard.
Yeah, g’bye, newts.
G’bye.
Sleep good.
Pleasant dreams.
Yeah!

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 16 Aug 15 - 04:47 PM

Iain Ingram's "Ill Wind Frae Cumberland"

chorus:

It's an ill wind blawn frae Cumberland
That is sweepin' o'er the Solway sand
Wi' disease and devastation fanned aroon'

Noo the pyres burn and fortunes fa'
The length and breadth o' Gallowa
And anger bides in countryside and toon

verse 1

See the fairmer in ahint his gate
Broken doon in sic a state
While government debate
Whit should be done

A' his fields and his pastures bare
O' the kye and yowes he'd grazing there
Noo the victims o' a scare
And the slaughtering gun

chorus: It's an ill wind --- - -

verse 2

There's nae words o' hope can ease the pain
Or mak him want tae stairt again
When a' a lifetime's work in flames
You see

Aye it's hard enough tae mak it pey
But when ye ken nae ither way
Whit is lost and gaun this day
Has brought misery

chorus: It's an ill wind ------

IAIN'S NOTES The first case of foot and mouth disease was diagnosed in February 2001 at an abattoir in Essex.
The source was traced to a farm in Northumberland
The disease spread rapidly throughout Britain - with Cumbria being the worst affected. In Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway was one of the first areas to be hit. I've written the song from a Scottish perspective, after watching an old farmer break down on television as he explained to a reporter how he had lost everything.
          _________________________________________________



I have a video recording of Iain singing this but no idea how to share it -- - (couldn't manage to upload his printed version of the song, had to type it out myself into the box!)

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Aug 15 - 09:33 AM

In one of the Buckeye Jim songs,

"Way down yonder, not very far off
A bluejay died of the whooping cough

Buckeye Jim, ya can't go
Go weave and spin, ya can't go
Buckeye Jim"

He whooped so hard with the whooping cough,
He whooped his head and his tail right off!

Buckeye Jim, ya can't go
Go weave and spin, ya can't go
Buckeye Jim"

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 02:49 PM

Worms & ducks, as well as the person apostrophised, die in the course of On Ilkley Moor Baht At.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: PHJim
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 02:48 PM

The minor guitar lick that I play at the start of the song is a close approximation of one that I learned in the early sixties from either an Ian & Sylvia or Joan Baez album. I can't recall the song or the record or even the artist, but I always liked the lick.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: PHJim
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 02:42 PM

Sorry, sometimes words just disappear and I don't know how to edit my posts. This was supposed to say, "My friend Bernie Martin, who passed away a few years ago, wrote this song called "Complicity" and Al Kirby and I. . ."

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: PHJim
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 02:39 PM

My friend "Complicity" and Al Kirby and I put it on our CD, Sittin' In The Kitchen.
Complicity - Bernie Martin

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 10:00 AM

By the end of Froggie Went a-Courting,
Mr. Frog, Miss Mouse, and Uncle Rat were
all dead, because "They all were swallowed
by a Big Black Snake!"

Uh-Huh!! Uh-Huh!!

You can sing it yourself.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 07:16 PM

Iain Ingram composed a stunning song at the time of the foot and mouth epidemic, and the slaughtering and burning of all the farm animals -- think it is called 'Ill Wind Frae Cumberland'

I've not got the words yet, will try to record Iain singing it next time I see him - - -

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 07:11 PM

John Eaglesham sang a song about 'Poaching Rhinocer-os-es ---based on a poem originally written (by a medical student?) for the Glasgow Uni student charity magazine as I recall? (well, I'm not actually old enough to recall, but my father used to recite it!)
I have the words somewhere- - - - -

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: eftifino
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 03:23 AM

Here are the Beat farmers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhKGTRtgstk

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: PHJim
Date: 10 Aug 15 - 05:34 PM

Li'l Andy's song, "I Don't Feel A Thing Anymore" has a verse that goes:

My shrink said what I needed to do was cry,
So I went to the Cineplex to give it a try.
At the end Old Shep was dead
A little boy shot him in the head
But I felt no teardrop welling in my eye.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: PHJim
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 11:53 PM

Fred Eaglesmith wrote a song called "I Shot Your Dog":

Well, hello, neighbor. I been meaning to talk to you.
I been putting it off. It's something I gotta do.
I been living with a secret. Been keeping me awake.
There's just something I gotta say:

I shot your dog. He was on my property.
I thought he was a coyote, on the run.
I been missing some chickens, so I pulled the trigger.
I feel so bad 'bout what I done.

He also wrote one called "He's A Good Dog" which, although the dog is alive, he predicts his end:

He's a good dog, but one of these days
I'm gonna have to drive him into town and have him put away
'Cause he don't hear that good no more and he can't hardly walk
But until then I'll look at him and say
He's a good dog

Subject: Lyr Add: GOODBYE OLD PAL (Bill Monroe)
From: Mark Clark
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 06:55 PM

Here is a song that's mentioned by name in a couple of threads but the lyrics have never been added… so here goes. My friend and former Blue Grass Boy, Bob Black, says it's the best song he's ever heard about a dead horse.


GOODBYE OLD PAL
by Bill Monroe

Along about roundup time in Texas way out west,
I lost a friend and a pal, boys, and laid him down to rest,
I wept and mourned o'er his grave, to me, boys, it was sad,
For I knew down beneath that mound lay the best pal I ever had.

        Yo-de-lay-ee-ay de-lay-ee-o de-lay-ee.

My best pal was my old paint horse and now he's gone to rest,
I laid him down beneath that mound in Texas way out west,
Where the cactus blooms o'er his grave, and the coyotes cry,
I know he sleeps in perfect peace beneath that Texas sky.

        Yo-de-lay-ee-ay de-lay-ee-o de-lay-ee.

Dear old pal it breaks my heart to leave you here alone,
Now I'm going to ride the range on the Texas roan,
But my love for you, old pal, it will linger on,
I will always think of you although you're dead and gone.

        Yo-de-lay-ee-ay de-lay-ee-o de-lay-ee.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Rachel
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 12:13 PM

Road Kill Cafe

Tone Deaf Leopard

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Cool Beans
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 11:27 AM

My friend John Finan wrote and performs a song called "Suicide Squirrel" here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Oa0M3bjLM

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 10:21 AM

Dunderbeck

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Ged Fox
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 04:25 AM

The Presbyterian Cat - killed a mouse and was hanged for it.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 08:18 PM

The Salting of the Slug

Digitrad link

I hadn't heard it sung until just now - my guess at the tune was "The Rising of the Moon", but the video uses the "Flora, Lily of the West" tune.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 07:52 PM

BELLMAN from the singing of the Watersons.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Iain
Date: 31 Mar 15 - 04:48 AM

I quite like "The Ballad of roadkill Jack"

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 15 - 12:57 AM

Wdead slunk in the middle of the droad by Loudon Wainright

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Megan L
Date: 30 Mar 15 - 01:17 AM

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Kirt
Date: 29 Mar 15 - 08:59 PM

"Dead Critter" Song & Video by Kirt Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raL2HQrqVy4&feature=youtu.be

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Bert
Date: 16 Nov 12 - 12:16 AM

Tom Pierce.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Bert
Date: 15 Nov 12 - 09:42 PM

...
So hyem he cam an' catched the beast,
An' cut 'im in twe haalves,         
An' that seun stopped hes eatin' bairns
An' sheep an' lambs an' caalves.
So noo ye knaa hoo aall the foaks         
On byeth sides ov the Wear         
Lost lots o' sheep an' lots o' sleep
An leeved i' mortal feor.         
So let's hev one te brave Sor John         
That kept the bairns frae harm,         
Saved coos an' calves by myekin' haalves         
O' the famis Lambton Worm.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 15 Nov 12 - 06:38 PM

Mudcat gives me the welcome opportunity to pose as a scientist without doing the hard work. However, my list was not meant as a meagre parody of Francis J. Child, but rather to demonstrate the vastness of the topic. It has been mentioned that there are innumerable hunting songs (i.e. for fun and sport, which also includes Spanish bull fight songs), but for the other categories examples are easy to find as well.

Taxation should depend on the degree of empathy for the animal, resp. emphasis on protection of animals, wildlife, and environment. Legal advice is recommended.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Nov 12 - 02:24 PM

Grishka, you sound like a natural born librarian.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Nov 12 - 09:53 AM

Mow they've all been collated. I suppose we might start getting taxed on them.

I can see the form now - do you have any other sources of dead animal songs you have not disclosed?

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 04:57 PM

There must be thousands of songs about dead animals, even if we insist that the animal must be recognizable as an individual, and its death as such must be the subject. This excludes meat, ham, sausages, eggs, spam, gelatine, leather, fur coats, ...

Let me propose a systematic approach. Each of the following topics will easily fill one or more threads:

1. Pets or working animals (horses etc.) that died by natural causes, by accidents or from unspecified causes
2. Pets or working animals (horses etc.) deliberately killed by humans
3. Livestock (rabbits etc.) killed for food
4. Animals that died in captivity because of inadequate treatment
5. Livestock that died from other causes
6. Prey of human hunters for food
7. Prey of animals
8. Accidental killing by men, e.g. roadkill
9. Indirect accidental killing by men, e.g. through environmental damage
10. Animals killed by humans in self-defense or defense of other humans
11. Animals killed by humans to protect food or property
12. Animals killed for fun or sport
13. Wild animals that died from other or unknown causes
14. Violent death in animal fables
15. Non-violent death in animal fables
16. Others ...

You get the idea. Hopeless to list them all, even the English ones.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,John Greaves
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 04:04 PM

North Yorkshire does dead animal songs rather well ie
Willie went to Westerdale 'she roasted a hen both feather and feet'
Sedgefield Fair 'but he missed t'awd hens and shot his grey mare'
Mutton Pie 'theres a yow been dead for a month and a day'
T'awd Sow 'tawd sows getten mezzles and shes died poor thing'
are just a few.
Also what about Widdecombe Fair and The Keeper as well as the various poaching songs?

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD TYLER
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 03:05 PM

OLD TYLER

Old Tyler was a good old dog,
We thought he'd treed a coon,
But when we come to find it out,
Old Tyler was a-barking at the moon,
Lord, lord,
Old Tyler was a-barking at the moon.

Old Tyler was a good old dog,
We thought he'd treed a squirrel,
But when we come to find it out,
Old Tyler was a-barking at the world,...

Old Tyler started down the road,
He started at a run;
He had not gone but a little bitty piece
When he met Allygainy with a gun,...

Now Tyler, you did suck them eggs
And this will be your doom!
He sent a steel ball through his heart
And laid old Tyler in his tomb,...

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: terrier
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 11:32 AM

Well, no one has yet mentioned Gelert, who was alive for most of the story but met his end when Llewellyn, in a fit of misplaced anger, ran him through with his sword. Classic bit of Victoriana and very singable (hankies at the ready).

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 05:00 AM

Not a song exactly, or even Folk, but Smegma's 1988 album Smell the Remains deserves a mention for best album title & cover art. Lookee HERE...

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 04:47 AM

"Olim lacus colueram" (the roasted swan's monologue) from "Carmina Burana".

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 04:39 AM

That of course should have been ' Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road '

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 04:36 AM

There's Mike Heron's country tinged Born To Be Gone from what would have been the last Incredible String Band album had not they broke up during the recording of it...

I remember the night my dog died...

Indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooib0fy5Kx0

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 14 Nov 12 - 04:29 AM

' Dead Skunk on the Highway ' by Loudon Wainright is my new favourite animal song.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Bert
Date: 13 Nov 12 - 09:45 PM

She went three times around and the old dog was drowned
I'm the last of the Irish Rover.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Nov 12 - 08:49 PM

Flanimals

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,JimL
Date: 13 Nov 12 - 05:13 PM

Sorry to resurrect this thread after 9 years, but there is an error of fact lurking :)
"He who sleeps under the blackthorn tonight" is not from a Houseman poem, but from "Farm Dog" by Frank Mansell. I'm posting this just to stop anyone else barking up the wrong Houseman tree :)

"The corn will come green and the days will grow warm,
Another will guard the approach to the farm,
But none will be sharper or keener of sight
Than he who lies under the blackthorn tonight."

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 01:58 PM

'Scuse me if these are repeats--

Cacklin' Hen (first time she cackled, she cackled a lot; next time she cackled, she cackled in the pot) ....

Verse from "Shortnin' Bread"--

Old Aunt Ida hung her head and cried,

When she heard the hog had died,

But I'm so glad that hog is dead,

Cause I got more shortnin' for my bread.

Tol' my Cap'n--

Told my Captain, old Maud the mule was dead;

Told my Captain, old Maud the mule was dead.

Said never mind old Maud; put the harness on Ned.

"He Played the Ukulele When the Ship Went Down" involves the death of the animals on board: The cat meowed and the dog went 'sniff,' and the talking parrot hung upside down, cryin' "Polly wanna cracker" as the ship went down."

CC

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Bert
Date: 14 Jul 03 - 10:57 PM

I love that song Chief.

Subject: Lyr Add: YOU SAY THAT THE BATTLE IS OVER (Mallett)
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 14 Jul 03 - 07:17 PM

How about nearly dead animals?


YOU SAY THAT THE BATTLE IS OVER
David Mallett

And you say that the battle is over,
and you say that the war is all done.
Go tell it to those with the wind in their nose
who run from the sound of the gun.
And write it on the sides of the great whaling-ships,
or on ice floes where conscience is tossed.
With the wild in their eyes, it is they who must die,
and it's we who must measure the loss.

And you say that the battle is over,
and finally the world is at peace.
You mean no one is dying, and mothers don't weep,
or it's not in the papers, at least.
There are those who would deal in the dark side of life,
there are those who would tear down the sun.
And most men are ruthless, but some men will weep
when the gifts we were given are gone.

Now the blame cannot fall on the heads of a few,
it's become such a part of the race.
It's eternally tragic that that which is magic
be killed at the end of the glorious chase.
From young seals to great whales, from waters to wood,
they will fall just like weeds in the wind.
With fur coats and perfumes and trophies on walls,
what a hell of a race to call men.

And you say that the battle is over,
and you say that the war is all done.
Go tell it to those with the wind in their nose
who run from the sound of the gun.
And write it on the sides of the great whaling-ships,
or on ice floes where conscience is tossed.
With the wild in their eyes, it is they who must die,
and it's we who must measure the loss.
With the wild in their eyes, it is they who must die,
and it's we who must measure the loss.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs - especially cats
From: Abby Sale
Date: 14 Jul 03 - 11:09 AM

Not a song, as far as I know, but derived from Egyptian folklore; a "Pocket Tale" as rendered by Peter Kohler

First friend is sitting and whiling away the time. Second friend walks by carrying a cat.

First friend calls out, lazily: "Where are you going?"
Second friend answers, lazily: "To the river. To wash the cat."
First friend observes: "It is very cold today. The cat will die."
Second friend replies: "The cat will not die."

A little later Second friend returns, without the cat.
First friend asks: "Where's the cat?"
Second friend mopes: "It's dead."
First friend can't help it: "I told you that would happen. It is very cold today."
Second friend, miserably: "It wasn't the cold."
First friend: "Then what was it?"
With much distress, Second friend holds up his fists and demonstrates: "It happened when I was wringing it dry!"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAST OF THE GREAT WHALES (Andy Barnes
From: JennyO
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 11:20 AM

Well there's this one:

The Last Of The Great Whales
Andy Barnes

My soul has been torn from me and I am bleeding
My heart it has been rent and I am crying
All the beauty around me fades and I am screaming
I am the last of the great whales and I am dying

Last night I heard the cry of my last companion
The roar of the harpoon gun and then I was alone
I thought of the days gone by when we were thousands
But I know that I soon must die, the last leviathan

This morning the sun did rise Crimson in the north sky
The ice was the colour of blood and the winds they did sigh
I rose for to take a breath it was my last one
From a gun came the roar of death and now I am done

Oh now that we are all gone there's no more hunting
The big fellow is no more it's no use lamenting
What race will be next in line? All for the slaughter
The elephant or the seal or your sons and daughters

My soul has been torn from me and I am bleeding
My heart it has been rent and I am crying
All the beauty around me fades and I am screaming
I am the last of the great whales and I am dying

And so since time began we have been hunted
Through oceans that were our home we have been haunted
From Eskimos in canoes to mighty whalers
Still you ignored our plea, none came to save us

© 1986 Friendly Overtures Ltd.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Blackcatter
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 01:06 AM

Wow - I never thought of whaling songs . . .

Not too many of those where the its funny about a dead whale, is there?

The there's all the fishing songs, like many whale songs, they don't cover the death, perse, but definately dead animal songs.

May be I have to add a "real" sad verse to the song I'm beginning (as opposed to a tongue-in-the-old-cheek sad verse).

pax yall.

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 07:48 PM

Whales are animals....

Subject: RE: Dead animal songs
From: Cluin
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 02:49 AM

The sun was shining brightly,
And I could hardly wait,
To ponder at my window,
And gaze at my estate.

My eyes fell on a little bird,
With a lovely yellow bill.
I beckoned him to come and sit
Upon my window sill.

I smiled at him most cheerfully,
And gave him a crust of bread.
Then I quickly slammed the window down,
And crushed his fucking head.