Dem Bones

Words & Music:

Traditional Gospel

 

Correspondent Sandy Fisher has provided the hand motions to this song!  See below...  Both of us found that doing the hand motions brought us right back to long ago camp days.

 

A                     D      A                     E7     A

Lord, he thought he'd make a man - dem bones gonna rise again!

Made him out of clay and sand - dem bones gonna rise again!

 

CHORUS:

A                      D

I knowed it, knowed it, indeed, I knowed it, brother!

A             [n.c.]    A               E7     A

I knowed it.  WHEE!!!!  Dem bones gonna rise again!

 

Thought he'd make a woman too - dem bones gonna rise again!

He didn't know just what to do - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Took a rib from Adam's side - dem bones gonna rise again!

For to make Miss Eve, his bride - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Put 'em in a garden wide and fair - dem bones gonna rise again!

Told 'em to eat what they found there - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Peaches, pears, plums and such - dem bones gonna rise again!

But the apple tree you better not touch - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

One day Miss Eve was walking around - dem bones gonna rise again!

Spied that tree all loaded down - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Serpent crawling around that trunk - dem bones gonna rise again!

At miss Eve, his eye he wunk - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Eve, she just took a little pull - dem bones gonna rise again!

Then she filled her fig leaf full - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Adam, he took a little slice - dem bones gonna rise again!

Smacked his lips and said, "ThatÕs nice!" - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

One day the Lord, He was around - dem bones gonna rise again!

Spied them peelings on the ground - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

The Lord cried out in his mighty voice - dem bones gonna rise again!

That shook the heavens to the joists - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Cried, "Adam, Adam, Where art though?" - dem bones gonna rise again!

"Here I is Lord, I's comin' now." - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

"You ate my apples, I believe." - dem bones gonna rise again!

"No, massa, Lord, I 'spect Ôtwas Eve - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:


 

Then the Lord rose up in his might wrath - dem bones gonna rise again!

Said ya'll just beat it down the path - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Put an angel at the door - dem bones gonna rise again!

Said ya'll don't come 'round here no more - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

Eve took the needle, Adam took the plow - dem bones gonna rise again!

That's why we all working now - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

To this tale there ain't no more - dem bones gonna rise again!

Eve got the Apple, and Adam got the core - dem bones gonna rise again!  TO CHORUS:

 

 

MOTIONS:

"Dem bones" = circle your hands over each other in front of your chest (like a football referee motioning the "Offsides" penalty)

"gonna" = drop your hands to your lap, side by side

"rise again" = slap your thighs & raise your arms (palms down) to your shoulders.

 

SandyÕs variation:

"I know it, know it" = move your hands & arms from right to left in time with the songÕs beat as follows:

  "I" = right, right

  first "know it" = left

  second "know it" = right

  "Indeed, I" = left, left

  "know it" = right

  "brother" = left

 

My variation:

You move your hands in time to the music and with the same right/left as SandyÕs, but instead of just moving your hands & arms, you make an "L" by holding one hand up before you with your elbow bent at a 90 degree angle and your palm at eye level.  Then, point to the elbow with the other hand.  So, SandyÕs variation would become:

  "I" = point to right elbow twice

  first "know it" = point to left elbow once

  second "know it" = point to right elbow once

  "Indeed, I" = point to left elbow twice

  "know it" = point to right elbow once

  "brother" = point to left elbow once

 

"Whee!" = throw both hands up in the air with glee

 

"Dem bones" = circle your hands over each other in front of your chest (like a football referee motioning the "Offsides" penalty)

"gonna" = drop your hands to your lap, side by side

"rise again" = slap your thighs & raise your arms (palms down) to your shoulders.

 





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