The Hearse Song

"The Hearse Song" is a song about burial and human decomposition, of unknown origin. It was popular as a World War I song, and was popular in the 20th century as an American and British children's song, continuing to the present. It has many variant titles, lyrics, and melodies,^[1] but generally features the line "the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out", and thus is also known as "The Worms Crawl In".^[2]

History[]

The earliest version of the verse is found in a poem by the English writer Matthew Lewis, incorporated in his popular 1796 Gothic novel The Monk, which includes the lines "The worms they crept in, and the worms they crept out and sported his eyes and his temples about." While there are reports of the song dating back to British soldiers in the Crimean War (1853–1856),^[3] it certainly dates to at least World War I (1914–1918), when it was sung by American and British soldiers,^[4] and was collected in various World War I songbooks of the 1920s.^[5] The key line "the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out" appears in some versions of the otherwise unrelated song "There was a lady all skin and bone", and may date to 1810 or earlier.^[3]^[5]

In popular media[]

The character Susan Shelley (played by Susan Gordon) sings the song in the 1966 film Picture Mommy Dead, a film about a girl tormented by the circumstances surrounding the death of her mother.

The character Louis (played by Ray Sharkey) whistles the opening notes "the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out" at 11:54 in the 1977 film Hot Tomorrows, a film about a character obsessed with thinking about death.

Season 6, episode 17 (aired August 20, 2018) of the TV series Elementary is titled "The Worms Crawl In, the Worms Crawl Out". In the episode, human remains are ejected from a worm composter.

References[]

^ Dennis, Dixie (2008). Living, Dying, Grieving. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7637-4326-0.
^ Pen, Ronald; Rick Kogan (2010). I wonder as I wander: the life of John Jacob Niles. University Press of Kentucky. p. 100.
^ ^a ^b Pankake & Pankake 1988.
^ Schwartz, Alvin (1986). Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. HarperCollins. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-06-440170-8.
^ ^a ^b Doyle 1976.

Sources[]

Abernethy, Francis Edward, ed. (1976). What's Going On? (In Modern Texas Folklore). Publications of the Texas Folklore Society. Vol. 40. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-058-7.
Doyle, Charles Clay (1976). "'As the Hearse Goes By': The Modern Child's Memento Mori". What's Going On? (In Modern Texas Folklore). pp. 175–190.
Pankake, Marcia; Pankake, Jon (1988). A Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book: More Than 300 Fresh, Funny, and Irreverent American Folk Songs. Viking Adult. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-670-82159-4.
Waltz, Robert B.; Engle, David G. (2013). "Worms Crawl In, The". The Ballad Index. Retrieved 7 December 2013.

[1] Dennis, Dixie (2008). Living, Dying, Grieving. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7637-4326-0.

[2] Pen, Ronald; Rick Kogan (2010). I wonder as I wander: the life of John Jacob Niles. University Press of Kentucky. p. 100.

[FOOTNOTEPankakePankake1988-3] Pankake & Pankake 1988.

[Schwartz-4] Schwartz, Alvin (1986). Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. HarperCollins. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-06-440170-8.

[FOOTNOTEDoyle1976-5] Doyle 1976.

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