It’s the Halloween season, and I’ve been enjoying listening to the Halloween Station that I created on Pandora. 🙂

Last week, I wrote about one of the songs that I regularly hear on my Halloween Station, “Monster Mash.” Pandora was not the first place I heard “Monster Mash,” as I remember hearing the song when I was a child. However, this week, I wanted to write about a spooky song that I had never heard before until I created my Halloween Station; the song is the “Hearse Song.” The version that I first heard was a cover by Oscar Brand.

I did some research about this song, and from Wikipedia’s article, “The Hearse Song,” I learned that people do not actually know who created this song or when. However, people do know that during World War I, British and American soldiers sang this song. Wikipedia also says that each time a musician covers this song, the lyrics change slightly.

When I first heard this song, I thought it was a creepy song for Halloween, but now that I know that it was commonly sung by soldiers in the first World War, it changes the tone of the song from that of a creepy one to that of a sad one.

You can listen to Oscar Brand’s version of “Hearse Song,” here.

Here are the lyrics to the version that Oscar Brand sings:

Have you ever thought as the hearse goes by
One of these days you are gonna die
The motor pool sends out a car

You’re gone for a ride but you don’t get far

As you watch the death wagon riding by
You don’t know whether to laugh or cry
You wish it weren’t but you know it’s true
The very next load may consist of you
The burial detail lowers you down
The officers they just stand around
They shovel in dirt, they shovel in rocks
They don’t give a damn if they break the box
The worms crawl in
The worms crawl out
They creep all over your chin and mouth
They call their friends their friends’ friends too
You’ll look like hell when they get through
Your eyes drop out
Your teeth fall in
The worms are over your mouth and chin
Each one takes a bite or two
Of what the pentagon says is you

Now that you’ve heard the song and read the lyrics, do you think it’s a Halloween song? 😯