A boy went out walking, it didn't matter where.
Just get out o' the house was his only care.
Dad had come home drunk and was sleepin' it off.
Mom was mad. She cried, "I won't put up with this stuff."
Sis just came home, she stayed out all night.
She and mom started yelling, had a screamin' fight.
The boy was worried, scared, didn't know what to do.
Seemed like the whole house was gonna break in two.

So the boy went out walking, with his head hung down.
When, what did he spy, stretched out on the ground...
but a rattlesnake, stiff from cold, looking dead.
So he crouched down, near the viper's head.
Now, what happened next really blew his mind,
cause that snake started talking like humankind.
"Oh pleassssse, pick me up" was his pitiful cry.
"Pleassse hold me and warm me, or I'll sssssurely die."

Well, the boy was young, but he was nobody's fool.
He listened in the streets. He learned at the school.
"If I pick you up, You'll bite me!" he said.
"I sssee" said the snake "ssomeone'ss filling your head
with misssinformation about usss reptilesss.
Let me sset you sstraight" said the snake with a smile.
"All that ssstuff about bitin' and poisssin'sss a lie.
Sso pleasse hold me and warm me or I'm cssertain to die.

But the boy wasn't buying this snakes' hissin' jive.
"If I warm you, you'll live, but I won't survive."
"Oh no" said the snake, "Sssnake'sss honor I ssswear!
Pleassssse hold me, don't leave me, or don't you care?"
Well the boy didn't want the old rattler to die
Still, it's hard to tell what's true, what's a lie?
His parents, his teachers, the man at the zoo
all said "Gettin' near rattlers is bad for you!"

The snake could tell the boy didn't believe him
so he said, "Just to show ya that I'm not decssseivin'
I'll tell you a sssecret that sssnakes usually hide.
I've got powersss that'll make you feel good inssside."
"My magic can make you feel great all day.
You'll be cool, any problemsss will ssslip away.
Ssso pick me up, my man. Hold me clossse, you'll sssee.
My high will make you fly legally."

The boy thought about home and all that had happened
and decided he'd go for what this snake was rappin'.
"If pickin' you up will chase away my blues
then warmin' a snake is a job I choose."
He bent and picked the serpent up from the dirt
and stuck him inside his coat n' sweatshirt.
The snake grew warmer, started movin' and then
the boy asked, "Well, when does the fun begin?"

"I thought you'd never asssk!" the snake hissed.
And round that boys chest it started to twist,
slithered down his sleeve and wrapped around his hand
and sank his two fangs into the palm of that young man.
"OW!" screamed the boy. "You bit me! You lied!
You said I'd feel better. Now I'm gonna die"
The snake dropped to the ground and as it slithered away
said, "I'll alwaysss be a sssnake, no matter what I sssay!"