So I was trying to research this song a little the other day, and I was wondering if any of you out there were familiar with it and/or had any variations on it to share. It's called The Worms (sometimes called The Hearse). You b-movie nuts might remember it from The Undertaker & His Pals, and my fellow metalheads know that the crossover thrash band The Accused recorded a version of it for their album Martha Splatterhead's Maddest Stories Ever Told (the death metal band Impaled did a version too, I believe). I know one version of the song/nursery rhyme famously appeared in Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. I personally have developed a minor obsession with the song, born way back when I was a kid. I remember walking into CVS around Halloween, and picking up one of those novelty items that speaks or shrieks or sings when you walk past the little motion sensor thingamabob. It was a skeleton driving a hearse, kind of in the style Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Anyway, it started playing the song and I was instantly fascinated by this morbid li'l ditty.
Anyway, here's the version I remember it playing (a somewhat truncated version):
Did you ever think, when the hearse rolled by
Someday you are going to die?
They wrap you in a bloody sheet
then bury you six feet deep
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
In your eye and out your mouth
Here's a link to a website that's compiled some of the variations (which can get pretty diverse indeed): http://www.alsirat.com/deathlore/worms.html
Here's a video that has a (rather cheesy, but fun) version of the song that appeared in Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEtTh0vYMKI&feature=related
PS> I find it hilarious that, in this post, my spellcheck highlighted "Splatterhead" (and, also, ironically, "spellcheck")... but not "thingamabob."
The version the Pogues recorded goes:
The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out are fat and stout
Your eyes cave in and your teeth fall out
Your brain comes tumbling down your snout
Be merry, my friends, be merry!