Ray Stevens / The Mississippi Squirrel Revival

한마리 다람쥐가 난동을 피워 Mississippi 주 Pascagoula에 있는 First Self-Righteous Church를 부흥시킨

이야기를 담은 재미있는 Novelty Song으로 역시 Ray Stevens의 1인 다역 연기가 멋진 뮤직 비디오입니다.
어찌 보면 말도 안되는 우스개 같은 일화 이지만 주님께서 기적을 행하시는 방법은 실로 예측할수 없다는

메시지를 주는 노래로 가사 내용을 아래에 간추려 봤습니다. 

1985년 Ray Stevens가 발표하여 컨츄리챠트 20위에 올랐던 곡입니다.

 

 

어렸을적 여름 방학마다 Mississippi 주 할머니 집에 갔었는데 하루는 나무에 올랐다가

다람쥐 한마리를 잡게 되었고 구두 상자에 구멍을 내어 집어넣고 교회에 가서 친구에게 보여주던 중

다람쥐가 뛰쳐나와 난장판을 벌리게 된 이야기이다.

다람쥐가 Harv의 바지속으로 들어가자 당황한 Harv는 통로로 뛰어나와 미친듯이 펄쩍 펄쩍 뛰기 시작했고 

그러는 영문을 모르는 교우들은 그의 신앙심이 절정에 달했던가 아님 귀신에 홀렸다고 생각했다.
Harv에게서 나온 다람쥐는 이어 Bertha의 치마속으로 뛰어 들어가 온통 휘젓고 다니니 Bertha는

'주여, 주여' 주님을 부르짓으며 눈물을 흘리며 모든 죄와 교회의 소문과 비리등을 고백하기 시작하였다.

분위기가 이쯤되자 신도들은 모두 참회하는 의미에서 헌금을 바치기 시작했고 사회봉사를 자청하기도 하며

다시 세례를 받았다는 이야기이다.
주님께서 모세를 위해 바다를 가르는 기적을 행하셨듯이 다람쥐 한마리를 보내셔 미시시피 시골의 무너저가는

한 교회를 어떻게 재건 시켰는지 보여주는 이 기적같은 해프닝을 나는 평생 잊지 못할것이다.



Well, when I was a kid I'd take a trip
Every summer, down to Mississip'
To visit my Granny and her antebellum world
I'd run barefooted all day long
Climbin' trees, free as a song
one day I happened to catch myself a squirrel

Well I stuffed him down in an old shoe box
And punched a couple holes in the top
When Sunday came, I snuck him into church
I's sittin' way back in the very last pew
Showin' him to my good buddy Hugh
When that squirrel got loose
and went totally berserk 

Well, what happened next is hard to tell
Some thought it was Heaven,
others thought it was Hell
But the fact that somethin'
was among us was plain to see
As the choir sang "I surrender all"
The squirrel run up Harv Newman's coveralls
Harv leaped to his feet and said
"Somethin's got ahold of me! Yow!"

The day the squirrel went berserk
In the First Self-Righteous Church
In that sleepy little town
of Pascagoula, Mississippi
It was a fight for survival
That broke out in revival
They were jumpin' pews and
shoutin' Halelujah, Halelujah 

Well, Harv hit the aisles
dancin' and screamin'
Some thought he had religion,
others thought he had a demon
And Harv thought he had a
Weed Eater loose in his Fruit of the Looms
He fell to his knees to plead and beg
And the squirrel ran out of his britches' leg
Unobserved, to the other side of the room

All the way down to the Amen Pew
Where sat sister Bertha Better-Than-You
Who'd been watching all the
commotion with sadistic glee
But you shoulda seen the look in her eyes
When that squirrel jumped her
garters and crossed her thighs
And she jumped to her feet and said
"Lord, have mercy on me!" 

As the squirrel made laps inside her dress
She began to cry and then to confess
To sins that would make a sailor blush with shame
She told of gossip and church dissention
But the thing that got the most attention
Was when she talked about her
love life, and then she started naming? names

Well, seven deacons and the Pastor got saved
And twenty five thousand dollars got raised
And fifty volunteered for
missions in the Congo on the spot
And even without an invitation
There were at least five hundred rededications
And we all got rebaptized, whether we needed it or not

Now you've heard the Bible story, I guess
How He parted the waters for Moses to pass
O, the miracles God has wrought in this old world
But the one I'll remember 'til my dying day
Is how He put that church back on the narrow way
With a half-crazed Mississippi squirrel