|
22 Apr 99 - 06:14 PM (#72813) Subject: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Carole Wondering if anyone has ever heard of a hilarious song about a squirrel that got loose in a Baptist (I think) Church in Pascagoula, MS (I think). The squirrel got loose during a Sunday service and the ballad is about the havoc that ensued. Heard this song just a few years ago by a visiting balladeer at a Unity Church in Austin TX. |
|
22 Apr 99 - 06:36 PM (#72822) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Joe Offer Well, sure... ----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE--------------------------------- -Joe Offer- |
|
22 Apr 99 - 09:55 PM (#72864) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Carole Well, thanks, Joe, I never expected to hear back in such a hurry. Do you know the tune? |
|
23 Apr 99 - 10:26 AM (#72934) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Allan S, The song MISSISSIPPI SQUIRREL REVIVAL Is sung on an Audio Cassette "Ray Stevens-Comedy Video Classics" With other take off's such as Surfin U.S.S.R. and the Streak Sold by Clyde Records, Inc. 1707 Grand Ave. Nashville, TN 37212 I picked up a copy at a local Flea Market If I rememder the song is acted out as Ray sings it something like on MTV |
|
24 Apr 99 - 03:56 AM (#73108) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: katlaughing Hi, Carole, couldn't find you in the list to send this as a personal message. Thanks for asking for this and to Joe for finding it. It is hilarious. I also wanted to tell you it was nice to see Unity mentioned in your post. My sister is a Licensed Unity Teacher and former Silent Unity Telephone Prayer worker. In some way, most of us in the family have either studied Unity's teachings or been members. Have you any other good ones to share with us, like the squirrel? Thanks! katlaughing |
|
24 Apr 99 - 04:21 AM (#73110) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Joe Offer Carol, I don't know the tune. I think I've heard the recording maybe twice on the radio, many years ago when I had to work in Bakersfield (out of range of rock 'n' roll and NPR). I didn't come across it again until I found the lyrics online a while back. Watch this space, though. Our amazing friend Gene has a vast collection of country novelty songs, and he's likely to post it for us at his Website. -Joe Offer- |
|
24 Apr 99 - 10:05 PM (#73231) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Susan A-R I'd particularly like to find *the dudley do right of the highway patroll. He's the same fellow who wrote Junkfood Junkie isn't he?? (not to mention southern air, the streak, and one or two other church inspired ones, about summer bible school and about a couple getting lost while driving in the mountains and winding up at a snake handling church. We have a lovely Saturday morning show here in Vermont called Music to go to the Dump By. The only way it could possibly happen is that the owner of the station produces it. lots of Tom Lehrer, Ray Stevens, Spike Jones, Swinging Cockers and other wonderful stuff. If you are passing through on a Saturday morning, say around 8:40 a.m., try to find am 550. Susan |
|
25 Apr 99 - 04:48 PM (#73327) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: ddw in windsor The tune of this will suggest itself if you just play the chords in a good bouncy 4/4 time. It's performed as a musical recitation. I think I've got just about everything Ray Stevens ever recorded and two 90-minute cassettes of his stuff live in my car. It's great travelling music. For anyone not familiar with this guy, he is an incredible musician and does most of the voices himself, including everything from good instrumental aping of everything from the Beach Boys to the Beatles, Michael Jackson (he does a version of B-a-a-a-d that descends into a chorus of barnyard sounds that is just hilarious) and has one of the quirkiest senses humor I've ever heard. One of my all-time favorites is called The Shriners' Convention. For those oldsters among us, you've probably all heard him, even if you didn't realize (or remember) who it was. He had a hit back in the ¹50s called Ahab The Arab and did a great cover of the old Coasters tune Along Came Jones. His CDs are widely available. Just ask in any GOOD music store and, if they don't have them, they can get them easily. Ray Stevens is still performing and I'm still lamenting the fact that I couldn't get to a concert he did in Detroit about two or three years ago. cheers, ddw |
|
25 Apr 99 - 04:57 PM (#73329) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: ddw in windsor Actually, I think my post above might be wrong on one point. There are parts of the song that are sung (the chorus), but the tune is really simple. I was reading through the lyrics and I think there are a few minor "misheard" phrases there. In the second line my hearing is that it's "visit my granny in her ante-bellum world." Near the end of the verse the line "plain to tell" should be "plain to see" -- it has to rhyme with "me" at the end. and the "First Sub-Baptist Church," at least on my version, is "First Self-Rightous Church." Cheers, ddw |
|
25 Apr 99 - 07:01 PM (#73353) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Gene *CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD/PLAY* |
|
26 Apr 99 - 04:04 PM (#73567) Subject: RE: Song: Squirrel Loose in Baptist Church From: Joe Offer Thanks a lot, Gene. I've wanted to hear this song again, ever since the last time I escaped from Bakersfield. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Last time I was there, it seemed the main industry in Bakersfield was prisons. Used to be agriculture and oil and country music, but no more. -Joe Offer- |
|
29 Jan 14 - 12:49 PM (#3596557) Subject: Lyr Add: MISSISSIPPI SQUIRREL REVIVAL (Ray Stevens From: Jim Dixon Here's how I hear it, with corrections boldfaced. I have also inserted line breaks so that the rhymes appear at ends of lines. I transcribed this from Spotify, but you can also see an official video of this song on YouTube. The composer credit is from Allmusic.com and BMI.com. MISSISSIPPI SQUIRREL REVIVAL Words and music by Cyrus W. Kalb, Jr. & Carlene B. Kalb As sung by Ray Stevens on "Greatest Hits: 50th Anniversary Collection" (2008) Well, when I was a kid, I'd take a trip Ev'ry summer down to Mississip' To visit my granny in her antebellum world. I'd run barefooted all day long, Climbin' trees, free as a song. One day I happened to catch myself a squirrel. Well, I stuffed him down in an ol' shoe box An' punched a couple holes in the top. When Sunday came, I snuck him into church. Well, I's sittin' way back in the very last pew Showin' him to my good buddy Hugh When that squirrel got loose and went totally berserk. What happened next is hard to tell. Some thought it was heaven; others thought it was hell, But the fact that somethin' was among us was plain to see. As the choir sang "I Surrender All," The squirrel ran up Harv Newman's coveralls And Harv leaped to his feet and said, "Somethin's got a hold on me!" CHORUS: The day the squirrel went berserk In the First Self-Righteous Church, In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula, It was a fight for survival That broke out in revival. They were jumpin' pews and shoutin', "Hallelujah!" Well, Harv hit the aisle dancin' and screamin'. Some thought he had religion; others thought he had a demon, And Harv thought he had a Weed-Eater loose in his Fruit of the Looms. He fell to his knees to plead and beg, And that squirrel ran out his britches leg Unobserved to the other side o' the room, All the way down to the amen pew, Where sat Sister Bertha Better-than-You Who'd been watchin' all the commotion with sadistic glee. Should 'a' seen that look in her eyes When that squirrel jumped her garters and crossed her thighs And she jumped to her feet, said, "Lord, have mercy on me!" As that squirrel made laps inside her dress, She began to cry and then to confess To sins that'd make a sailor blush with shame. She told of gossip and church dissention, But the thing that got the most attention Is when she talked about her love-life and then she started namin' names. CHORUS Well, seven deacons and the pastor got saved, And twenty-five thousand dollars was raised, And fifty volunteered for missions in the Congo on the spot, And even without an invitation, There were at least five hundred rededications, And we all got rebaptized whether we needed it or not. Now, you've heard the Bible story I guess, How He parted the waters for Moses to pass— Oh, the miracles God has wrought in this ol' world!— But the one I'll remember till my dyin' day, Is how he put that church back on the narrow way With a half-crazed Mississippi squirrel. CHORUS |
|
30 Jan 14 - 10:32 AM (#3596778) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mississippi Squirrel Revival (Ray Stevens From: GUEST,leeneia Thanks for reviving this thread, Jim. Seeing it inspired me to go to YouTube and stage my own (short) Ray Stevens revival. The DH and I watched several of his videos and enjoyed quite a few laughs. My favorite Ray Stevens song is 'Door Number Three,' about how a working guy won his lady love on a TV quiz show. |