About The Song
“Mississippi Squirrel Revival” is a song by American country music singer Ray Stevens. It is a single from his 1984 album He Thinks He’s Ray Stevens.
A young boy visiting relatives in Pascagoula, Mississippi catches a wild squirrel, which he sneaks into the First Self-Righteous Church during a Sunday service. When the squirrel escapes his box, it heads into the overalls of one of the other parishioners, who jumps in shock and discomfort (thinking “he had a Weed Eater loose in his Fruit of the Looms”). The rest of the congregation believe he has been possessed, either by a demon or by the Holy Spirit; it is implied that the pastor is inclined to believe it is the latter. In the front pew, “Sister Bertha Better-N-You,” a holier-than-thou parishioner who had been watching the previous incident “with sadistic glee,” panics when the squirrel suddenly runs into her dress. In terror, she breaks down in tears and commences confessing all of her sins, including “naming names” of paramours that bring embarrassment to the whole church. Following the ordeal, the church experiences a sudden renewal-revival and a wave of baptisms, rededications, increased tithes, and volunteers to go on foreign missions. The now-adult singer reflects on the incident as an example of one of God’s miracles.
Originally, “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” was not intended to be a single, but it was rush-released when various radio stations began playing it. Stevens felt that its release would help re-establish him as a novelty artist after several albums mostly composed of serious material. Stevens felt that novelty music was experiencing a revival in the middle 1980s after a period in the early 1980s where it was not as popular.
As with many other Stevens songs, a music video was produced several years later, with the songwriters in prominent roles; Cyrus “Buddy” Kalb played the squirrel’s first target.
Video
Lyrics
Ooh, ooh
Well, when I was kid, I’d take a trip
Every summer, down to Mississipp’
To visit my granny in her Antebellum world
I’d run barefooted all day long
Climbing trees, free as a song
One day, I happened to catch myself a squirrel
Well, I stuffed him down in an old shoebox
And punched a couple holes in the top
When Sunday came, I snuck him into church
Well, I sit 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 something was among us was plain to see
As the choir sang “I surrender all”
The squirrel ran up Harv Newlan’s coveralls
Harv leaped to his feet and said
“Something’s got a hold on me! Yeah!”
The day the squirrel went berserk
In the First Self-Righteous Church
In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula (Pascagoula)
It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival
They were jumpin’ pews and shouting “Hallelujah!” (Hallelujah!)
You know 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 that 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 watchin’ all the commotion with sadistic glee
You should’ve seen that look in her eyes
When that squirrel jumped her garters and crossed her thighs
She jumped to her feet and said, “Lord! Have mercy on me!”
As that 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 the gossip and church dissension
But the thing that got the most attention
Was when she talked about her love life
And then she started naming names
The day the squirrel went berserk
In the First Self-Righteous Church
In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula (Pascagoula)
It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival
They were jumpin’ pews and shouting “Hallelujah!” (Hallelujah!)
Well, seven deacons and then the pastor got saved
And 25, 000 dollars was raised
And 50 volunteered for missions in the Congo on the spot
And even without an invitation
There were at least 500 rededications
And we all got re-baptized whether we needed it or not
Now you’ve heard the Bible story, I guess
How He parted the waters for Moses to pass
All the miracles God has brought to this ol’ world
But the one I’ll remember ’til my dyin’ day
Is how He put that church back on the narrow way
With the heart praise and a Mississippi squirrel
The day the squirrel went berserk
In the First Self-Righteous Church
In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula (Pascagoula)
It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival
They were jumpin’ pews and shouting “Hallelujah!” (Hallelujah!)
The day the squirrel went berserk
In the First Self-Righteous Church
In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula (Pascagoula)
It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival
They were jumpin’ pews and shouting “Hallelujah!” (Hallelujah!)