REM, "Swan, Swan H" (1986)

These lyrics were always interesting to me, they remind me of some of the folk songs I occasionally heard when I lived down South. Since R.E.M. is originally from Athens, Georgia, it would make sense.

Swan, swan, hummingbird, hurrah
We are all free now
What noisy cats are we
Girl and dog, he bore his cross
Swan, swan, hummingbird, hurrah
We are all free now
A long, low time ago
People talk to me

Johnny Reb, what's the price of fans
Forty apiece or three for one dollar?
Hey, Captain, don't you want to buy
Some bone chains and toothpicks
Night wings, or hair chains?

Here's your wooden greenback, sing
Wooden beams and dovetail sweep
I struck that picture ninety times
I walked that path a hundred ninety
Long, low time ago, people talk to me
A pistol hot, cup of rhyme
The whiskey is water, the water is wine
Marching feet, Johnny Reb
What's the price of heroes?

Six of one, half dozen the other
Tell that to the captain's mother
Hey, captain, don't you want to buy
Some bone chains and toothpicks?
Night wings, or hair chains?
Swan, swan, hummingbird, hurrah
We're all free now
What noisy cats are we

Long, low time ago, people talk to me
A pistol hot cup of rhyme
The whiskey is water, the water is wine
[media=https://youtu.be/15uwLfj0d8E]