Just listening for the 784,654th time....and it's just perfect in every way. Just incredible. The only reason it was remade was to scoop up a boatload of money from a more modern and accepting audience. But it is a completely different song than the other one that sounds slapped together in a few takes without a thought for the meaning.
This song captivates me still, after 50+ years. Takes me to the deep South and the poverty of some who lived thru truly hard times. And the powerful spirit of a poor young girl being abandoned to her future with only a red dress and her wits to keep her alive.
She not only stayed alive, she turned her hard beginnings around, became self sufficient, successful and someone with respect for herself. She didn't let the naysayers and judgers stop her. She's the one sitting in the drivers seat at the end.
So, not a song about a poor girl, but a song of hope and how you can rise up no matter how far down you started.
There is a huge difference between a singer who simply belts out a song that is on a page in front of them, and someone who can convey an entire experience with their voice. Telling not just a story with words, but taking you inside it and making you feel like you are there, with their interpretation.
Noises down in the basement
Voices up in the attic
Figures prowl in the garden
Shadows lurk in the parlor
Awake long after midnight
Objects move in the darkness
Haunted by night wailing
Harassed by something unclean
Do you have a problem
With the warm blooded
Infected by the non dead
It’s an infestation
Of troublesome mortals
Warm and perishable
[Chorus]
When you’re no longer flesh and bone
The living still won’t leave you alone
Just because your body’s grown cold
Doesn’t mean they can possess your home
You had hoped for eternal peace
But the living still plague the deceased
House guests awful and ghastly
Breathers hostile and nasty
Creatures loathsome and dreadful
Bleeders selfish and vile
Can you feel the presence
Stirring in the mire
Waiting to expire
Can you hear the bound souls
Swirling in the ether
Growing like a fever
[Chorus]
When you’re no longer flesh and bone
The living still won’t leave you alone
Just because your body’s grown cold
Doesn’t mean they can possess your home
You had hoped for eternal peace
But the living still plague the deceased
[Chorus]
When you’re no longer flesh and bone
The living still won’t leave you alone
Just because your body’s grown cold
Doesn’t mean they can possess your home
You had hoped for eternal peace
But the living still plague the deceased
Voices up in the attic
Figures prowl in the garden
Shadows lurk in the parlor
Awake long after midnight
Objects move in the darkness
Haunted by night wailing
Harassed by something unclean
Do you have a problem
With the warm blooded
Infected by the non dead
It’s an infestation
Of troublesome mortals
Warm and perishable
[Chorus]
When you’re no longer flesh and bone
The living still won’t leave you alone
Just because your body’s grown cold
Doesn’t mean they can possess your home
You had hoped for eternal peace
But the living still plague the deceased
House guests awful and ghastly
Breathers hostile and nasty
Creatures loathsome and dreadful
Bleeders selfish and vile
Can you feel the presence
Stirring in the mire
Waiting to expire
Can you hear the bound souls
Swirling in the ether
Growing like a fever
[Chorus]
When you’re no longer flesh and bone
The living still won’t leave you alone
Just because your body’s grown cold
Doesn’t mean they can possess your home
You had hoped for eternal peace
But the living still plague the deceased
[Chorus]
When you’re no longer flesh and bone
The living still won’t leave you alone
Just because your body’s grown cold
Doesn’t mean they can possess your home
You had hoped for eternal peace
But the living still plague the deceased
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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