The old Grey Hearse goes rolling by,
You don't know whether to laugh or cry;
For you know some day it'll get you too,
And the hearse's next load may consist of you.
They'll take you out and they'll lower you down,
While men with shovels stand all a-round;
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 in and the worms crawl out,
They crawl all over your chin and mouth,
They invite their friends and their friends' friends too,
And you look like hell when they're through with you.
You don't know whether to laugh or cry;
For you know some day it'll get you too,
And the hearse's next load may consist of you.
They'll take you out and they'll lower you down,
While men with shovels stand all a-round;
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 in and the worms crawl out,
They crawl all over your chin and mouth,
They invite their friends and their friends' friends too,
And you look like hell when they're through with you.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2015/7/23 - 11:38
Language: English
Altra versione
THE HEARSE SONG
Did you ever think as the hearse rolls by
That some of these days you must surely die?
They'll take you away in a big black hack,
They'll take you away but won't bring you back.
The men with shovels stand all around.
They shovel you into that cold, wet ground.
They shovel in dirt and they throw in rocks.
They don't give a damn if they break the box.
And your eyes drop out and your teeth fall in,
And the worms crawl over your mouth and chin;
And the worms crawl out and the worms crawl in,
And your limbs drop off of you, limb by limb.
Did you ever think as the hearse rolls by
That some of these days you must surely die?
They'll take you away in a big black hack,
They'll take you away but won't bring you back.
The men with shovels stand all around.
They shovel you into that cold, wet ground.
They shovel in dirt and they throw in rocks.
They don't give a damn if they break the box.
And your eyes drop out and your teeth fall in,
And the worms crawl over your mouth and chin;
And the worms crawl out and the worms crawl in,
And your limbs drop off of you, limb by limb.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2015/7/23 - 11:39
I've been looking for this damn song! I thought it was lost to the sands of time from the help places were being such as google, thank you
Jakob - 2018/11/5 - 05:47
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Canzone di autore anonimo su di una melodia infantile.
Recentemente (2007) riproposta con musica originale (per pianoforte e voce) da Gary Bachlund, compositore classico tedesco-americano.
Sulle CCG/AWS non poteva mancare una “allegra” canzoncina come questa, composta da qualche soldato negli anni in cui la Morte spazzava le trincee della Grande Guerra (ma forse addirittura i campi di battaglia della guerra di Crimea).
Esistente in numerose versioni, le due che seguono sono tratte dalla raccolta curata da Carl Sandburg ed intitolata The American Songbag, 1927.
Questa l’introduzione che il grande poeta e scrittore americano faceva del brano:
“Casualty records of the world war indicated in round numbers ten million dead and twenty million crippled. The Hearse Song was popular in all branches of service, though in the aviation corps it had more variants.”