"The worms they crept in"

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:02 AM -0400 9/17/04, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>  The version we sang in the 30s in NE started:
>>
>>I'll wrap you up
>>In a great big sheet
>>And drop you down
>>About fifty feet ....
>
>Here is how I recall it from the 1950's, Detroit:
>
><<

My recollected version from NYC, also 1950s, was similar, modulo the
gas tank verse which I don't recall at all, but the last line
(envoi?) i think has been smuggled into the Detroit version from the
"Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts", where it fits the
metrics and scansion better than it does here (see below)

>
>Did you ever think
>When the hearse goes by,
>That you may be
>The next to die?
>
>They wrap you up
>In a big white sheet
>And drop you down
>About fifty feet.
>
>The next two days,
>Your body decays;
>The next two weeks,
>Your gas tank leaks [this part never made any sense to me, but this is what
>it sounded like].
>
>The worms go in
>And the worms go out;
>The ants play pinochle
>On your snout.
>
>Your body turns
>A pale green,
>And pus comes out
>Like whipping cream.
>
>And me without my spoon!
>
>>>
>
>There were occasional slight variations.
>
My recollection of G7, without a google check for alternants:

Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat,
Dirty little birdies' feet.
Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
And me without a spoon.

larry