The Legend of Andrew McCrew (Solo live)

Lyrics

[Intro, spoken] Here's a weird song about a mummy It's actually a true story about a man who fell of the train in Dallas Texas Black man, had one leg, cut the other leg off and died And uh, so he was mummified They did that back in 1913 when it happened And they waited for relatives to come and claim him But nobody came And a carnival passed through, and they claimed him And he toured with the carnival for about 35 years posthumously It's a true story So, he was buried in 1973 And I read a little article about him And I wrote this song And then a year later whеn the song came out Uh, a guy steppеd forward and donated a headstone to Andrew McCrew And so, the fourth verse of this song was carved in granite And is now at his head And he became sort of a legendary figure in the black community in Dallas, Texas Symbolic of the man, the black man who couldn't be killed And there's a whole other stuff, um about it Which I can't go into now, it's too complicated But the song tells the story And the chorus is easy If you feel like singing about a mummy, just join right in [Intro] There was a mummy at the fair All crumpled in a folding chair The people passed but didn't care That the mummy was a man So, tell me if you can [Chorus] Who are you? Who are you? Where have you been, where are you goin' to? Well, Andrew McCrew must have lost his way 'Cause though he died long ago he was buried today [Verse 1] Down on Nightmare Alley, where the shady people sway A hobo came a-hikin' on a salty summer day Well, he hopped a freight in Dallas, and he rode it out of sight But on a turn he slipped, and he lost his grip and he fell into the night [Chorus] Oh, who are you? Who are you? Where have you been, where are you goin' to? Well, Andrew McCrew must have lost his way 'Cause though he died long ago he was buried today [Verse 2] Well, Andrew had one leg of wood, the other leg was small And when he fell off the train that night he found he had no legs at all Well, they found him in the thicket, and the undertaker came And they mummified his body for a relative to claim [Chorus] Whoa-oh, who are you? Who are you? Where have you been, where are you goin' to? Well, Andrew McCrew must have lost his way 'Cause though he died long ago he was buried today [Verse 3] But, no one came to claim him, until the carnival passed through The carnies took him to their tent, and they decided what to do Well, they dressed him in a worn-out tux, and they put him on a stand And millions saw the legend called the 'Famous Mummy Man' [Chorus] Whoa-oh, who are you? Who are you? Where have you been, where are you goin' to? Well, Andrew McCrew must have lost his way 'Cause though he died long ago he was buried today [Verse 4] Well, what a way to live a life, and what a way to die Left to live a living death with no one left to cry Petrified amazement, a wonder beyond words A man who found more life in death than life gave him at birth [Chorus] Oh, who are you? Who are you? Where have you been, where are you goin' to? Well, Andrew McCrew must have lost his way 'Cause though he died long ago he was buried today [Verse 5] But what about the ones who live and wish that they could go Whose lives are lost to living and performing for the show? Well, at least you got the best of life until it got the best of you So, from all of us to what's left of you, farewell, Andrew McCrew