Here Comes Halloween--Rikety Tickety Tin Edition

Hey at least I come by macabre fascinations honestly. Below is a lullaby my grandmother sang to my father, aunts, and uncle---and when I was seven or so--she sang it to me. I still remember her sweet face and lilting voice as she tucked my sheets in under my feet.

About a maid I'll sing a song ………

sing rickety tickety tin

About a maid I'll sing a song

who didn't have her family long

Not only did she do them wrong,

She did every one of them in,

them in, she did every one of them in

Her mother she could never stand ………

sing rickety tickety tin

He mother she could never stand

and so a cyanide stew she planned

Her mother died with a spoon in her hand,

And her face in a hideous grin, a grin,

her face in a hideous grin

She set her sister's hair on fire ………

sing rickety tickety tin

She set her sister's hair on fire

and as the smoke and flames rose higher

She danced around the funeral pyre,

A' playing a violin,

'olin, playing a violin

She chopped her baby bother in two

sing rickety tickety tin

She chopped her baby bother in two

And served him up in an Irish stew

And invited the neighbors in

'bors in, invited the neighbors in.

One morning in a fit of pique………

sing rickety tickety tin

One morning in a fit of pique

she drowned her father in the creek

she drowned her father in the creek

the water tasted bad for a week,

and we had to make do with gin, with gin,

we had to make do with gin.

And when at last the police came by………

sing rickety tickety tin

And when at last the police came by

She said she could not tell a lie

She knew she could not tell a lie

For lying she knew was a sin,

a sin, lying she knew was a sin

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