In each verse, the songleader sings the first line and then everybody else repeats it. When you get to the “Chorus tune,” everyone sings the previous four lines together.
The other day, (repeat)
I met a bear, (repeat)
A great big bear, (repeat)
A way out there! (repeat)
Sing previous 4 lines to “chorus tune”
He looked at me
I looked at him
He sized up me
I sized up him.
Chorus tune
He said to me
“Why don’t you run?
I see you don’t
Have any gun.”
Chorus tune
And so I ran
Away from there
But right behind
Came that big bear!
Chorus tune
And up ahead
There was a tree
A great big tree
O glory be!
Chorus tune
The lowest branch
Was ten feet up
I’d have to jump
And trust my luck!
Chorus tune
And so I jumped
Into the air
But I missed that branch,
Oh way up there!
Chorus tune
Now don’t you fret
And don’t you frown
‘Cause I caught that branch
On the way back down!
Chorus tune
This is the end
There ain’t no more
Unless I meet
That bear once more.
Chorus tune