well out in the country we didn t have mortuaries and so it was always customary for the undertaker to do his job and lay your kin out right there at home well the church would loan ya foldin chairs and you d have visitation and everything right there but when the nighttime come you had to sit up with the dead cause it wasn t right to leave em alone well the last time i sat up was 65 when my old arthritic uncle fred died he was 97 and so stooped over the morticians couldn t straighten him out they used a loggin chain to hold him down and covered that all up with a cape and a gown and didn t tell nobody in the family cause that s the kind of stuff folks just don t want to know about well we were all sittin there it was 3 in the mornin and then there come up a cloud a thunder lightnin and stormin well that lightnin flashed and that thunder clapped and that chain round old uncle fred went snap and rattled and fell to the floor with a thump and uncle fred just sat right up and i ain t sittin up with the dead no more i don t know bout you no i ain t sittin up with the dead no more no matter what ya say or do they say the dead can t hurt ya cause they already left but what they left can sure make ya hurt yourself and i ain t sittin up with the dead no more since the dead started sittin up too lord have mercy well when uncle fred sat up so did everyone there and there came a great partin of the foldin chairs and that preacher nearly knocked me down he said oh i m headin out that kitchen door i said rev that kitchen ain t got no door in it he said don t worry son it will have in a minute and i ain t never seen so much jumpin and shovin before and then somebody stepped on an old cat s tail it let out a scream a screech a wail and to say the least that howl didn t help to calm the situation down and then that lightnin flashed and that house went black and i spoke to my feets i said boys make tracks and i went out that screen door lickety split for town well i cut through the cemetary fell in a hole it was uncle fred s grave and it was dark and cold yeah the town drunk dug it and he dug it too deep and unbeknownst to me he s still in there asleep and i m scratchin and jumpin tryin to get out of that hole and he woke up and said you might as well come over here and sit down beside me boy cause you ain t gettin outta here tonight but i did and i ain t sittin up with the dead no more i don t know bout you no i ain t sittin up with the dead no more no matter what ya say or do they say the dead can t hurt ya cause they already left but what they left can sure make ya hurt yourself and i ain t sittin up with the dead no more since the dead started sittin up too wasn t no sense in nobody sittin up with uncle fred anyhow uncle fred done gonna be sittin up with his own self next time i m just gonna send flowers yeah