Mississippi Squirrel Revival

Ray Stevens

Well when I was a kid I'd take a trip, Every summer down to Mississipp'

To visit my granny and her antebellum world

I'd run barefooted all day long, Climbin' trees free as a song

One day I happened to catch myself a squirrel

Well I stuffed him down in an old shoe box, And punched a couple of holes in the top

And when Sunday came I snuck him into church

I was sittin' way back in the very last pew, Showin' him to my good buddy Hugh

When that squirrel got loose and went totally berserk

Well what happened next is hard to tell, Some thought it was Heaven others thought it was Hell

But the fact that something was among us was plain to see

As the choir sang "I Surrender All", The squirrel ran up Harve Newman's cover-alls

And Harve leaped to his feet and said "Something's got a hold on me!"

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The day the squirrel went berserk In the First Self Righteous Church In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula

It was a fight for survival, That broke out in revival. They were jumpin' pews and shoutin' hallelujah!

Well Harve hit the aisles a-dancin' and screamin', Some thought he had religion others thought he had a demon

And Harve thought he had a weed eater loose in his fruit of the looms

He fell to his knees to plead and beg, And the squirrel ran out of his britches leg

Unobserved to the other side of the room

All the way down to the Amen pew, Where sat Sister Bertha-Better-Than-You

Who'd been watching all the commotion with sadistic glee

Well you should'a seen the look in her eyes When that squirrel jumped her garters and crossed her thighs

She jumped to her feet and said "Lord have mercy on me"

As the squirrel made laps inside her dress, She began to cry and then to confess

To sins that would make a sailor blush with shame

She told of gossip and church dissention, But the thing that got the most attention

Was when she talked about her love life, And then she started namin' names

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Well seven deacons and the pastor got saved, And twenty five thousand dollars got raised

And fifty volunteered for missions in the Congo - on the spot

And even without an invitation, There were at least five hundred re-dedications

And we all got re-baptised whether we needed it or not

Now you've heard the Bible story I guess, How he parted the waters for Moses to pass

Oh the miracles God has wrought in this old world

But the one I'll remember 'til my dying day

Is how he put that church back on the narrow way

With a half crazed Mississippi squirrel

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STANZA: BRIDGE: CHORUS:

C - D - F - G - C (x2) Am ------- G C - D - F - G - C (x2)

F - C - D - G

C - D - F - G - C