Sheet music for “All about Preachers” available from Utah Phillips & The Long Memory.
“All about Preachers” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Performer: Utah Phillips.
Lyrics: Utah Phillips.
Tune: “Short’nin’ Bread.”
Here comes the preacher with his long, black coat,
Sniffing around like a billy goat;
He’s got a book of everything the good Lord wrote;
He knows each verse; he can tell you every quote.
Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,
Preacher’s gonna preach another soul to hell;
Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,
Preacher’s in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.
Preacher paid a visit to a poor, old man,
Said, “I’m gonna save you from your mortal sin.”
Old man asked the preacher his sins to relate.
“You didn’t put nothin’ in the Sunday plate.”
Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,
Preacher’s gonna preach another soul to hell;
Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,
Preacher’s in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.
Preacher paid a visit to Widow Brown,
Lived with her kids on the edge of town;
Preacher got there when dinner was on;
Sneaked out just about an hour ’til dawn.
Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,
Preacher’s gonna preach another soul to hell;
Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,
Preacher’s in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.
Preacher preached a sermon by an open graveside,
Where a hundred coal miners were buried alive.
He said, “It’s all in God’s great plan.”
Preacher and the boss were a-shakin’ hands.
Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,
Preacher’s gonna preach another soul to hell;
Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,
Preacher’s in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.
Preacher man, preacher, you better watch out:
We’re gonna get together and run you out.
All you ever preach is shame and greed;
One Big Union is all we need.
Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,
Old preacher man’s on his way to hell;
Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,
We’ll all stand together with our heads unbowed.