Bloody Bones

(album: A Real Live Dolly - 1970)

This is a story that I wrote
And I know that all around Sevierville
And around in the mountains, people have big families
And it's kinda hard to get them into bed at night
So, I guess I'll love you for me with bloody bones and scratch eyes
And the Boogerman, right? (Yeah, I heard)

But I like to do a song now that, not a song
I'd like to tell my little story and it goes like this
And I'll dedicate this to my mama
Even though she meant well, she done this to us
Now there was 12 of us kids
And all day long we'd fight and we'd scratch
And we'd scratch and we'd fight
But mama never had any trouble getting all of us into bed at night
'Cause dear old mama, bless her heart
She done the best she could
But mama had the awfulest way of making us be good
She'd tell us that raw head bloody bone was waiting just outside
That he'd come in and get us, if he knew I was crying
And he'd scare us all to death if the dogs outside get to barking, woo
There where times we hear daddy cough, we'd think it's bloody bone harken
Oh me

And when we got up to something mean, well mama she smelled the rat
She'd scratch on the wall and she'd say, "Lisa, what was that?"
Then we'd all get scared, and we'd dive underneath the cover
And we'd make us a little airhole and stick our nose out
Just enough so we wouldn't smother
And every night, one of the kids would wet in the bed
But mama, she never did understand why
But I wasn't about to get out of bed and take a change

I wasn't about to get out of bed and take a change
And step on, bone old scratch eye, oh me

Well, I'll get in the bed, you see
And I'll cover up my head and I put my fingers in my ears
So I couldn't hear the Boogerman that was breathing under the bed
'Cause I know if I get out of that bed that the devil would get me by the hard hand, oh me!

And now that we'd sleep four and five in the bed
And we get scared we'd all screecher
And it be below zero in our old house
But we'd just be burn up

And when we did drift off to sleep
We'd just lay there, and we'd glut and we'd moan
'Cause we was dreaming 'bout that bloody bones
And that scratch eyes and that Boogerman
There was a beast in us in our home, you see
And now that's been a long, long time ago
And now that I'm grown
You know, I still ain't sure that there's not a Boogerman
And a scratch eyes and a raw head bloody bone
Thank you