Sunday, November 8, 2009

A Late Samhain

Last night we gathered in Minneapolis to celebrate Samhain, it was a night a ritual and feasting. I had the runes I made blessed in circle, and the song that we sang is apparently a traditional American Halloween tune, and the words are this:

Ghost of John

Have you seen the Ghost of John?
Long white bones and the rest all gone,
Ooh, ooh!
Wouldn’t it be chilly with no skin on?



So I looked online trying to find if there's any hint of an author of it, as it is taught with a variety of melodies on grade school playgrounds across the U.S. I did find a version that says it's the Ghost of Tom, and is attributed to Martha Grubb, and it includes chords:
Em Am Em
Have you seen the ghost of Tom?
Em Am Em
Long white bones with the skin all gone
Em Am
Ooooooooh Oooooh Oooooooh
Em B Em D Em
Wouldn’t it be chilly with no flesh on?


It may be included in the following school song book: McGraw-Hill Share The Music Grade 4 Teacher's Edition by Rene Boyer-White , but I have no way of knowing as there is no listing or info on this.

1 comment:

Lapis said...

Our version is just slightly different from the Ghost of Tom. We have reversed the skin and flesh parts.

Long white bones with the flesh all gone...

Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?