Poor Jud Is Dead

Pore Jud is daid

Pore Jud Fry is daid

All gather 'round his coffin now and cry

He had a heart of gold

And he wasn't very old—

Oh why did such a feller hive to die?

Pore Jud is daid

Pore Jud Fry is daid

He's lookin' oh so peaceful and serene—

And serene!

He's all laid out to rest

With his hands acrost his chest

His fingernails have never been so clean!

(spoken)

Then the preacher'd get up and he'd say

"Folks, we are gathered here to moan and groan over our brother Jud Fry, who hung hisself up by a rope in his smokehouse"

Then there'd be weepin' and wailin' from some of those women

Then he'd say

"Jud was the most misunderstood man in this here territory

People used to think he was a mean ugly feller

And they called him a dirty skunk and an ornery pig stealer

But the folks 'at really knowed him

Knowed that beneath them two dirty shirts he always wore

There beat a heart as big as all outdoors"

As big as all outdoors

Jud Fry loved his feller man

He loved his feller man

He loved the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. He loved the mice and the vermin in the barns, and he treated the rats like equals, which was right. And he loved little children. He loved everybody and everything in the world! Only, only he never let on, so nobody ever knowed it

(sung)

Pore Jud is daid

Pore Jud Fry is daid

His friends'll weep and wail fer miles around

Miles around

The daisies in the dell

Will give out a diff'rent smell

Because Pore Jud is underneath the ground

Pore Jud is daid

A candle lights his haid

He's layin' in a coffin made of wood

Wood

And folks are feelin' sad

Cause they use to treat him bad

And now they know their friend is gone fer good

Good

Pore Jud is daid

A candle lights his haid

He's lookin' oh so purty and so nice

He looks like he's asleep

It's a shame that he won't keep

But it's summer and we're running out of ice

Pore Jud, Pore Jud