Sing You Sinners Lyrics - Manhattan Transfer

Once a mockingbird, dig, he was overheard, what? 

Singing out a word, I, to a cattle heard, heard 

All you bovine creatures dig what I'm layin' down! 

All you sinners drop everything, everything 

Let the melody and the harmony ring, let it ring 

Lift arms up to heaven and sing, ring a ding 

Sing you sinners won't you sway and swing, what a thing 

Start with clappin' your hands all about, all about 

Don't be silent, let the Lord hear you shout, shout it out 

And just let the music come out of your snout 

Sing you sinners won't you sway and swing, check it out 

Dig the drift of what I mean in a world where there's no music 

Old scratch Satan gets his kicks, he's up to his tricks 

He'll be laughing up and down the banks 

Of that river Styx 

You're so wicked baby, and you're depraved, you can rave 

It's apparent that you have misbehaved, to your grave 

But if you should wanna be saved, just behave 

Take a listen now to the bird 

Stop all that chewin' your curd and all that standin' in the mud there 

Swing people! Swing every chortle from your mortal, portal 

I know that everyone believes that cattle prodigies are like a sneeze 

Hard blowin', missin one lick of blowin' talent to show 

If you sing, you gotta swing 

But remember that the day will come when you 

Will be just steak on a plate, folks, you know it's fate 

So dig the music of the swing of sphere 

Before your swing arrives too late 

That's a little too dark 

Still, it is true, we've got breath for such a limited time 

What, are ya stupid, ya cows? 

You'd think to sing was a crime 

In defense now, hence now, here comes Adele Mccluck 

Mrs. Mockingbird, I must say you haven't heard 

Of the friendly bellowing swing of our friends the cows 

As they shed their way from Tea garden to Fuller 

Instead of spendin' every day just sneakin' around 

To live another lick, these cats work on their cow tone 

So when they get up to blow 

They blow a fatter bone tone into the ozone 

And furthermore, you tweety-birds are always singin' away 

Never givin' up a thought of what you say 

We cows do shedding takes up most of our day 

So when we start settlin' to play, we could say 

A moo is an array of what we've always known to be 

The best and only way to play, what we mean to say is 

Before the band will let ya sing, sing with Fletcher Henderson 

You've got to get your self to swing like the Bean or Satch 

So your horn can blow, a single note or two of deeper thinking 

That's the way to swing 

So set your mind upon a tone when you're shedding all alone 

And you will have a cornerstone like the bass trombone 

Blow your horn and take a bow, so that you're swinging like the cows 

Pythagoras would be so proud of us