Song Lyric Sunday – Sneaky Snake

This week we have more animals, but not very cuddly ones that you would want around your house and we are using the prompts of Alligator/Crocodile/Lizard/Snake/Turtle.

---

The first song that came to  mind was by Jim Stafford but someone had already written about it. The second song was written by master storyteller, Mr Tom T. Hall.

Tom T. Hall and his wife have a farm outside of Nashville called “Fox Hollow”. When they purchased the land back in the late 60’s, they made a promise to never fire a gun on the property. As a result, their farm is full of wildlife serving as a safe haven especially during hunting season.

One summer when two of his nephews were visiting, they were exploring Fox Hollow and discovered a garden snake slithering into the water. Mr. Hall turned that experience into a story about a root-beer drinking snake that he set to music and “Sneaky Snake” was born.

In 1974, recording greats Patty Griffin, Duane Eddy, Bobby Bare, and Buddy Miller gathered to at the studios at Fox Hollow to record the children’s album “I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow” which included of course “Sneaky Snake”. (Read the 2011 article In its entirety on Npr.com.)

The video below also includes one of Tom T.’s other classics “Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine.”

Sneaky Snake
lyrics from Songmeanings.com

Boys and girls take warning
If you go near the lake
Keep your eyes wide open
And look for sneaky snake

Now, maybe you won’t see him
And maybe you won’t hear
But he’ll sneak up behind you
And drink all your root beer

And then sneak snake goes dancing
Wiggling and a-hissing
Sneaky snake goes dancing
A-giggling and a-kissing
I don’t like old sneaky snake
He laughs too much you see
When he goes wiggling through the grass
It tickles his underneath

Well sneaky snake drinks root beer
And he just makes me sick
When he is not dancing
He looks just like stick

Now he doesn’t have any arms or legs
You cannot see his ears
And while we are not looking
He’s stealing all of our beer

And then sneak snake goes dancing
Wiggling and a-hissing
Sneaky snake goes dancing
A-giggling and a-kissing
I don’t like old sneaky snake
He laughs too much you see
When he goes wiggling through the grass
It tickles his underneath

---

---

Why not join in on this Sunday blogging ritual. Head over to Jim Adams’ blog to check out the rules and read some of the great responses to the weekly prompt.