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Skipper Billy's Wake

from Newfoundland Vinyl by Allison Crowe

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Ellis Coles' jaunty mix of moonshine, Screech and more was well popularized by Dick Nolan: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxFMBGT-UmE

lyrics

Skipper Billy's Wake

Words and Music - Ellis Coles
As Performed by Allison Crowe

Aunt Lucy made an announcement early in the day.
She said she hated to tell us Uncle Bill had passed away.
Well, we were so excited our legs began to shake.
We knew we'd been invited to Skipper Billy's wake.

At two am we crowded in to say our last goodbye.
To think there was moonshine in the room, it made us jump for joy.
But someone made a blunder that was beyond our reach,
and just to help us out a bit they brought along some Screech.

We took old Bill out of the box and placed him in a chair.
We started drinkin' 'shine and Screech to sorta drown our fears.
But when we looked at Skipper Bill his face was old and drawn.
We thought we better bury him before the break of dawn.

Oh, what a lovely funeral we had upon that night.
A little breeze was blowin' and the stars were shinin' bright.
We bowed our heads and said a prayer and raised our bottles high,
and we drank a toast to Skipper Bill away up in the sky.

Next morning we were awakened by Aunt Lucy once again:
"We’ve called the search and rescue, well, we can't find Uncle Jim!"
The funeral flashed before me, and I had an awful dread,
if Bill was still there in the chair we buried Jim instead.

Well, I called the boys together and a meeting we then had.
I told them of the slight mistake - it wasn't all that bad.
We'd go out there and dig him up, no one would never know,
'cause Uncle Jim would never know with moonshine in the hole.

Well, we placed the box upon the ground and lifted off the lid.
Uncle Jim just lay there grinnin', at least he wasn't dead.
He looked at us and took a drink - he said, “There is no doubt,
it was a lovely party until the lights went out!"

Now may this be a lesson to you swingin' folks around,
be careful what you're drinking when you're out on the town.
And let this be a lesson, I hope you all would teach,
never, when you're drinking, mix moonshine with your Screech.

credits

from Newfoundland Vinyl, released June 25, 2013
All vocals, guitar, instrumentation, arrangement, engineerig and production - Allison Crowe

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Allison Crowe Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador

"Why music?" "Why breathing?"

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