Carve my name in a hick'ry fiddle
Dance all night, dream just a little
I go like the raven
Down in the meadow, deep in the holler
Bullfrog sing to the bug-eyed crawler
Slide to the rake, hop to the caller
Reel with the willow waving
Shine the Merlin moonbeam eye
Set my dancing feet to fly
O'er the dark and Dervish sky
I go like the raven, yeah
A long time ago I had me a fella
Three-cocked hat and a coat o' yeller
Locked me down in a sawdust cellar
Fed me beans and bacon
Through the doorway he did enter
Played him coy, played him tender
Played him slumber through the winter
Gone when the birds awakened
Shine the Merlin moonbeam eye
Set my dancing feet to fly
O'er the dark and Dervish sky
I go like the raven, yeah
Now when they hear my bowstrings tightening
Angels gay, devils frightening
C'mon fire and midnight lightning
To the garden gancy
Hail the wayward werewolf howling
Haints and shades and goblins growling
Fiends and demon deves a-prowling
When I break and fancy
Shine the Merlin moonbeam eye
Set my dancing feet to fly
O'er the dark and Dervish sky
I go like the raven, yeah
Now all you blackbirds, plain or pretty
Hear my words for rede or witty
"Keep the greenwood, shun the city
And her dandies craven"