“Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back”

Sung by Bobby Bare

Written by Billy Edd Wheeler

They passed an ordinance in the town

Said we'd have to tear it down

That little old shack out back so dear to me

Though the health department said

It's day was over and dead

It will stand forever in my memory.

Don't let 'em tear that little brown building down

Don't let 'em tear that precious building down

Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down

There is not another like it in the country or the town.

It was not so long ago

That I went tripping through the snow

Out to that house behind my old hound dog

Where I would sit me down to rest

Like a snowbird on his nest

And I'd read that Sears and Roebuck catalog.

Oh, I would hum a happy tune

Peeping through the quarter moon

As my daddy's kin had done so much before

It was in that quiet spot

daily cares could be forgot

And it gave the same relief to rich and poor.

Don't let 'em tear that little brown building down

Don't let 'em tear that precious building down

Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down

There is not another like it in the country or the town.

Now, it was not a castle fair

But I could dream my future there

Build my castles to the yellow jackets' drone

I could orbit around the sun

Fight with General Washington

Or be a king upon a golden throne.

It wasn't fancy built at all

We had newspapers on the wall

It was air conditioned in the wintertime

Oh, it was just a humble hut

but it's door was never shut

And a man could get inside without a dime.

Don't let 'em tear that little brown building down

Don't let 'em tear that precious building down

Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down

There is not another like it in the country or the town.