What's Going On? (In Modern Texas Folklore) Page: 175

                                
"AS THE HEARSE GOES BY":
THE MODERN CHILD'S
MEMENTO MORI
Charles Clay Doyle
AMERICANS of several generations and regions can
remember as children having annoyed     parents and
squeamish friends with strains such as these:
1 Did you ever think as the hearse goes by
That you may be the next to die?
2 They wrap you up in a big white sheet
And drop you down 'bout six feet deep.
3 All goes well for about a week,
And then your coffin begins to leak.
4 The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout.
5 They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,
They eat the jelly between your toes.
6 A big red worm with rolling eyes
Will crawl in your stomach and out your eyes.
7 Your stomach turns a slimy green,
And pus pours out like whipping cream.
8 You spread it on a piece of bread
But you never know it because you are dead.'
The song (sometimes entitled "Hearse Song") is known in
every state of the union and Canada.2 I have questioned
one thousand persons over the past eight years, the
majority of college and high school age, the greatest num-
ber in the following locations: Austin, Texas; Weimar,
Texas (a rural community eighty miles west of Houston);
Los Angeles; Athens, Georgia; Chicago; and New York.

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