A Funeral Party Lyrics

(In which a shocking discovery is made in West Port, Edinburgh, the repellant nature and lurid details of which stun and shock the city to its very core)

“...a most extraordinary circumstance that took place on Friday night, the 31s​ t​ October 1828, in a House in the West Port, Edinburgh, where an old Woman of the name of Campbell is supposed to have been Murdered, and her Body Sold to a Medical Doctor.” - ​Edinburgh​ ​Broadsheet​ 3r​ d​ of November, 1828

“Up the close and doun the stair
But and been with Burke and Hare
Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief
Knox the boy that buys the beef” - ​19t​ h​ century Edinburgh skipping rhyme

Hare: ​Follow me to my humble lodging
What's mine is yours, such as it may be

Dr. Knox: ​Enjoy the hospitality, soon you'll be cold dead anatomy

Hare: ​Along the narrow, crooked wynd
Then through the close, this house you'll find

Dr. Knox: ​So many honored guests to fete, always an empty bed to let

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Hare: ​Drink up, the hour is growing late

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Dr. Knox: ​The fete will end when you meet your fate
Hare: ​Here you may rest from your journeys And warm your bones with a dram of whiskey

Dr. Knox: ​Drink to what's left of your health, soon you'll be another corpse to sell

Hare: ​Intoxicated, the room starts to spin
And at that moment our night work begins

Dr. Knox: ​Quietly asphyxiate, you see your end, but far too late

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Burke: ​Drink up, the hour is growing late

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Dr. Knox: S​ tuff the carcass in a crate

Narrator: ​All revels must come to their end
So for the constable the tenants send
False friends meet most unpleasant ends
The corpus delicti now made evident

Solo – Matthew Harvey

Solo – Michael Burke
Solo – Matthew Harvey

Chorus:​ A funeral party

Burke: ​Step inside and have a quaff

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Hare: ​Where guests soon shuffle off

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Narrator: ​Protests of innocence rebuffed

Chorus: ​A funeral party

Narrator: ​The life of the party - snuffed

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