The Hearse Song in Tonic Solfa
The Hearse Song in Tonic Solfa (doh is Eb): the old soldiers' song of the hearse and the worms, with the solfa under the words, staff notation and a piano.
Download the solfa (PDF)A4, free to print and share with your choir
- Key
- C minor
- Doh
- Eb
- Time
- 4/4
- Starts on
- m, (G)
- Range
- m, to d (G to E♭, a sixth)
- Tune
- THE HEARSE SONG
- Words
- Traditional American
- Music
- Traditional American
Tune THE HEARSE SONG (traditional American); words by Traditional American. Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| m,The- | l,old-,t,GreydHearse-,m,goesl,roll--,t,ingdby,-,m,You | l,don't-,t,knowdwheth-,t,erl,tose,laugh-,l,ort,cry,m,For,m,you |
| l,know-,t,someddaym,it-,m,'lll,get-,t,youdtoo,m,And,m,the | m,hearse's-,m,nextm,loadm,may,m,con-m,sistm,ofl,you.- |
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a WhatsApp message to the choir. To print it, download the solfa as a PDF.
Doh is Eb · 4/4
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in C minor, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
The old Grey Hearse goes rolling by,
You don't know whether to laugh or cry;
For you know some day it'll get you too,
And the hearse's next load may consist of—you.
Did you ever think as the hearse rolls by
That some of these days you must surely die?
They'll take you away in a big black hack,
They'll take you away but won't bring you back.
And your eyes drop out and your teeth fall in,
And the worms crawl over your mouth and chin;
And the worms crawl out and the worms crawl in,
And your limbs drop off of you limb by limb.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Eb and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
- Pitch the first note. The tune starts on m, (G), on the word “The”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 4/4 means four crotchet beats in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest. A cell split by a comma holds two quarter beats: d -,r is a dotted quaver and a semiquaver, d,r two semiquavers. That comma sits between two syllables; an octave mark sits small and low against its own letter (s,).
- Know the notes. The tune uses d m l t and the chromatic se. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
About the hymn
Nobody knows who made up The Hearse Song. American and British soldiers sang it in the First World War, and children have sung it ever since, often as The Worms Crawl In. Carl Sandburg printed its tune with two sets of words in The American Songbag (1927).
The tune here is the one Sandburg prints, an octave higher. The verses are the first of his version A and the first and third of his version B; the rest use a soldier's language and are left out.
- Words, a soldiers' song of the First World War: Traditional American
- Melody, a soldiers' song of the First World War: Traditional American
Tune THE HEARSE SONG (traditional American); words by Traditional American.
Questions about The Hearse Song
What is the doh of The Hearse Song?
In this version, in C minor, doh is Eb. If your choir sings it in another key, doh moves to the new key note and every solfa syllable stays the same — that is what movable doh means.
What note does The Hearse Song start on?
It starts on m, (G in C minor), a pickup on the word “The” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to m,.
Is The Hearse Song in the public domain?
Yes. the words were first published in 1927 and the music in 1927. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.