Everything in the world has a beginning and an end. Similarly, "sitting in mourning" also has "head" and "tail". The "song head" in mourning is not called "song head", but called "drum" and "song head". The lyrics of "drum" are mostly words of "comforting filial piety" and "comforting the dead", or words of the singer "feeling ashamed". In drum singing, there are "platitudes" and improvisations by singers, such as this song "Drumming" which is widely circulated in Chu:

One two three four five,

Jin Mu, fire, water and earth,

Never opened the road to singing,

You should beat gongs and drums first.

Everyone will die,

Resentment won't last long,

Let you live a hundred years,

Death is inevitable.

There is no "fixed format" for the title song. You can "praise the dead" and "comfort the filial family". Comfort filial piety, such as:

The ceremony is clearly visible,

All relatives and friends are here;

The deceased was a good man,

Did not offend relatives and friends;

Unexpectedly, when I died, I saw Yan Jun,

The whole family, old and young, cried tears.

Busy wearing clothes and brown clothes,

To collect the dead.

The deceased was taken to the wilderness,

Pangu divided the present first,

It is "serious" for people to die and return to the soil.

Because the opening song is mostly sung by the singer "through the door", the opening song is also called "through the door" and is sung as follows:

You and I went to the mourning hall today,

I have no paper or incense in my hand,

There is fragrance before the spirit,

Step forward three times and press Baoxiang.

Take three steps back and go to hell,

Three steps on the left, Xie Xiaozi,

Three steps on the right thank "Ge Lang",

Accompany the dead until dawn.

In Chu, the "opening words" of sitting and mourning mostly vary from person to person and from place to place. There are singers and readers. For example, a song "Opening Song" circulated in Jingzhou Gongan County:

Reading: Yellow flowers bloom everywhere, and immortals descend to Yaotai.

Start three drums,

Wake up grant.

Bang,

Alarm the heavenly soldiers and generals,

Two drums,

Disturb the four seas dragon king

Three drums,

It shocked the land of Beijing and the city god of Nanjing.

Ceng Zi, Yan Zi and Mencius who are willing to die,

Who lives longer, Zhou Wang, Hanwang or Wang Ba of Chu?

After opening the song road, he said that he would "mix nights" and turn into a "long book" to "kill time". Long books can praise the "life" of the deceased and lament the death of the deceased; You can also say some funny little jokes; Or sing the world is cold, the wonders of ancient and modern times, the dutiful son and grandson, the sages and the ancients, or chat (also known as a joke), or sing the flowers (that is, cauliflower), such as:

What is blooming in the sky?

What flowers are buried underground?

What flowers bloom in March?

What flowers bloom in September?

What flowers are hot and spicy?

What flowers are in bloom?

What flowers are like sesame cakes?

It is said that the reason why "Grant" wanted to "match flowers" for the deceased was because it was said that the old man was "silent" in the underworld after his death, and his filial family was afraid of his "silence", so he asked Grant to "match flowers" and "guide" his death to "see flowers" in front of the coffin. In a word, at night, people can hold a funeral for it, such as:

It's getting dark and quiet,

Guests who listen to this song want to know,

Just kidding.

Sitting at night is "mourning", but the mourning is "very lively" and "full of laughter". Therefore, some people in the rural areas of Chu called "filial piety songs" "laughing songs".