This is a sing-songy
camp song about a guy who meets a bear, its nasty because 10 years later I can *STILL* remember the lyrics to this song.
Here's how the
song works, the person leading the song says a line and everyone repeats it back, every four lines you sing the last four lines.
The fun part of doing this song at a camp gathering is the audience can sing along easily since the
lyrics are repeated before each verse is sung and generally when younger people they will try to match the inflection you put in your voice as you sing the song, this has an entertainment value all its own. This song has very few
bastard versions since you learn it so throughly in the matter of a week or so of singing it.
I heard it first at
YMCA Camp Tippecanoe in
Ohio. Here's the
lyrics to the song.
The Bear Song
The other day
(Group Repeats)
I met a bear
(Group Repeats)
A great big bear
(Group Repeats)
Oh way up there
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
He looked at me
(Group Repeats)
I looked at him
(Group Repeats)
He sized up me
(Group Repeats)
I sized up him
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
He said to me
(Group Repeats)
Why don't you run
(Group Repeats)
I see you ain't
(Group Repeats)
Got any gun
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
And so I ran
(Group Repeats)
Away from there
(Group Repeats)
But right behind
(Group Repeats)
Me was that bear
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
Ahead of me
(Group Repeats)
There was a tree
(Group Repeats)
A great big tree
(Group Repeats)
Oh lucky me
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
The nearest branch
(Group Repeats)
Was ten feet up
(Group Repeats)
I'd have to jump
(Group Repeats)
And trust my luck
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
And so I jumped
(Group Repeats)
Into the air
(Group Repeats)
But I missed that branch
(Group Repeats)
Oh way up there
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
Now don't you fret
(Group Repeats)
And don't you frown
(Group Repeats)
Cause I caught that branch
(Group Repeats)
On the way back down
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
This is the end
(Group Repeats)
There ain't no more
(Group Repeats)
Unless I meet
(Group Repeats)
That bear once more
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)
The End, The End
(Group Repeats)
The End, The End
(Group Repeats)
The End, The End
(Group Repeats)
The End, The End
(Group Repeats)
(Sing previous four verses)