I Know An Old Lady

Words & Music:

Shel Silverstein

 

D

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.

A7

I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

A7             D

I guess she'll die!

 

D

I know an old lady who swallowed a spider.

     G                        A7

That wriggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

    D

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

     G                    A7

But, I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

A7             D

I guess she'll die!

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a bird.

How absurd!  They swallowed a bird!

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

But, I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

I guess she'll die!

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a cat.

Fancy that!  She swallowed a cat!

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

But, I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

I guess she'll die!

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a dog.

What a hog!  She swallowed a dog!

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

But, I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

I guess she'll die!

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a goat.

Just opened her throat and swallowed that goat!

She swallowed the goat to catch the dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

But, I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

I guess she'll die!

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a cow.

I don't know how she swallowed that cow!

She swallowed the cow to catch the goat.

She swallowed the goat to catch the dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider

That wriggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

But, I don't know why she swallowed that fly.

I guess she'll die!

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse.

She's dead, of course!

 

The provenance of the attached easy arrangement is unknown.  It is part of a collection that people gave me over the years.  Please inform me if correctly attribute it.