While you're waiting for this clip to load, I have to tell you why it's here. Waaay back in 1973, we were on a vacation, headed for Acadia National Park in Maine, when we heard this song come on the radio. We laughed so hard we nearly wrecked the car. We heard the song one more time that trip but never heard it again. We hadn't managed to catch the singer's name. Yet it frequently stirred memories (especially when we'd see a dead skunk on the road, of course) and the tune stuck with us. So we got interested in finding the song and were unsuccessful until December of 1998 when we happened to be in Seattle for a conference. A very large music store downtown had a searchable data base so I checked for "Dead Skunk". Lo and behold, we were finally successful. Now I find there are lots of entries on the internet. Oh, well, it's kind of special to us.




Dead Skunk


Performed by Loudon Wainwright III :words and music by Loudon Wainwright III
transcriber unknown

available on:
original 45, Columbia 4-45726, 1972
reissue 45, Columbia 13-33269
Loudon Wainwright's Album III, Columbia, 1973
Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty Records of All Time, Vol. 4: the 1970's, Rhino LP/cassette 823, 1985
and numerous other comedy compilations


Crossin' the highway late last night
He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right
He didn't see the station wagon car
The skunk got squashed and there you are!

(Chorus)
You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Take a whiff on me, that ain't no rose!
Roll up yer window and hold yer nose
You don't have to look and you don't have to see
'Cause you can feel it in your olfactory

(Repeat Chorus)
You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Yeah you got yer dead cat and you got yer dead dog
On a moonlight night you got yer dead toad frog
Got yer dead rabbit and yer dead raccoon
The blood and the guts they're gonna make you swoon!

(Repeat Chorus - One more time!)
You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

C'mon stink!

You got it!
It's dead, it's in the middle
Dead skunk in the middle!
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high heaven!
All over the road, technicolor man!
Oh, you got pollution
It's dead, it's in the middle
And it's stinkin' to high, high Heaven!