Woodpecker woman, chipaway, whittle, carve my name in a hick'ry fiddle
Dance all night, dream just a little, i go like the raven
Down in the meadow, deep in the holler, bullfrong sing to the bug-eyed crawler
Slide to the rake, hop to the caller, reel with the willow waivin
Shine the merlin moonbeam eye
Set my dancin feet to fly
O'er the dark and dervish sky
I go like the raven
Long time ago i had me a feller, three-cocked hat and a coat o' yeller
Locked me down in a sawdust cellar,fed me beans and bacon
Through the doorway he did enter, played him coy, played him tender
Played him slumber through the winter, gone when the birds awakened
Shine the merlin moonbeam eye ...
When they hear my bowstrings tightnin, angels gay, devils frightnin
C'mon fire and midnight lightnin to the garden gancy
Hail the wayward werewolf howlin, haints and shades and goblins growlin
Fiends and demon deevs a-prowlin when i break and fancy
Shine the merlin moonbeam eye ...
Now all you blackbirds, plain or pretty, hear my words for rede or witty:
Keep the greenwood, shun the city and her dandies craven