The Little Old Sod Shanty On My Claim

Marc Williams

• CG7C
  P1:
  x---x---x---x x---x-
• CC7FCCG7CC7FCCG7CC7
  S1:
  I am looking rather seedy now while holding down my claim 

  And my vittles are not always served the best 

  And the mice play shyly round me as I nestle down to rest 

  In my little old sod shanty on my claim
• FCCG7CC7FCCG7C
  R1:
  The hinges are of leather and the windows have no glass 

  And the board roof lets the howling blizzards in 

  And I hear the hungry coyote as he slinks up through the grass 

  Round the little old sod shanty on my claim
• CC7FCCG7CC7FCCG7CC7
  S2:
  Yet I rather like the novelty of living in this way 

  Though my bill of fare is always rather tame 

  But I’m happy as a clam on the land of Uncle Sam 

  In the little old sod shanty on my claim
• FCCG7CC7FCCG7C
  R2:
  But when I left my eastern home, a bachelor so gay 

  To try to win my way to wealth and fame 

  I never thought I’d come to burning twisted hay 

  In the little old sod shanty on my claim
• CC7FCCG7CC7FCCG7CC7
  S3:
  My clothes are plastered o’er with mud, I’m looking like a fright 

  And every thing is scattered round the room 

  But I wouldn’t give the freedom that I have out in the West 

  For the table of the eastern man’s old home
• FCCG7CC7FCCG7C
  R3:
  Still I wish some kind-hearted girl would pity on me take 

  And relieve me from the mess that I am in 

  For the angel, how I’d bless her if this place her home she’d make 

  In the little old sod shanty on my claim
• CC7FCCG7CFCCG7C
  S4:
  And we would make our fortunes on the prairies of the West 

  Just as happy as two lovers we’d remain 

  We’d forget the trials and troubles we endured at the first 

  In the little old sod shanty on my claim
• FCCG7CC7FCCG7CFFmiC
  R4:
  And if fate would bless us with now and then an heir 

  To cheer our hearts with honest pride and fame 

  Oh, then we’d be contented for the toil that we had spent 

  In the little old sod shanty on my claim