CURLY: Poor Jud is dead, Poor Jud Fry is dead, All gather 'round his coffin now and cry He had a heart of gold And he wasn't very old Oh why did such a feller have to die?
Poor Jud is dead Poor Jud Fry is dead, He's lookin' oh so peaceful and serene
JUD: And serene!
CURLY: He's all laid out to rest With his hands across his chest His fingernails have never been so clean!
Then the preacher'd get up and he'd say:
Folks, we are gathered here to moan and groan over our brother Jud Fry, who hung himself up by a rope in his smokehouse
Then there'd be weepin' and wailin'... from some of those women. Then he'd say:
Jud was the most misunderstood man in this here territory. People used to think he was a mean ugly feller and they called him a dirty skunk and an ornery pig stealer
But the folks that really knowed him.
Knowed that beneath them two dirty shirts he always wore
There beat a heart as big as all outdoors
JUD: As big as all outdoors.
CURLY: Jud Fry loved his feller man
JUD: He loved his feller man
CURLY: He loved the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. He loved the mice and the vermin in the barns, and he treated the rats like equals, which was right. And he loved little children. He loved everybody and everything in the whole world! Only he never let on, so nobody ever knowed it.
Poor Jud is dead Poor Jud Fry is dead His friends'll weep and wail for miles around
JUD: Miles around!
CURLY: The daisies in the dell Will give out a different smell Because poor Jud is underneath the ground.
JUD: Poor Jud is dead A candle lights his head He's layin' in a coffin made of wood
CURLY: Wood...
JUD: And folks are feelin' sad Cause they used to treat him bad But now they know their friend is gone for good
CURLY: Good...
BOTH: Poor Jud is dead A candle lights his head!
CURLY: He's lookin' oh so purty and so nice He looks like he's asleep, It's a shame that he won't keep But it's summer and we're running out of ice.