Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back 

        (Billy Edd Wheeler)


               G
They passed an ordinance in the town

They said we'd have to tear it down 
                                          D7               
That little old shack out back so dear to me
            G                                  
Though the Health Department said 
                      C
It's day was over and dead
         G               D7     G
It will stand forever in my memory



Chorus
                G         
Don't let 'em tear, that little brown building down
               D7                         G               
Don't let 'em tear, that precious building down
                                       C     Am        
Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down 
         G               C                 D7       G 
There's not another like it in the country or the town



                     G       
It was not so long ago 

That I went tripping through the snow
                                      D7                 
Out to that house behind my old hound dog
        G                         
Where I would sit me down to rest 
         C
Like a snowbird on his nest
       G                     D7          G
And I'd read that Sears and Roebuck catalog 



                         G                  
Oh I would hum a happy tune 

Peepin' through the quarter moon
                                      D7
As my daddy's kin had done so much before 
           G                             C
It was in that quiet spot, daily cares could be forgot
        G                       D7       G
And it gave the same relief to rich and poor



Chorus
              G
Don't let 'em tear, that little brown building down
                D7                         G
Don't let 'em tear, that precious building down
                                    C     Am
Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down 
         G               C                 D7       G
There's not another like it in the country or the town



                         G                                  
Now it was not a castle fair 

But I could dream a future there
                                         D7
Build my castles to the yellow jacket's drone
         G                                    C
I could orbit around the sun, fight with Gen,ral Washington
         G        D7           G
Or be a king upon a golden throne 



                          G
It  wasn't fancy built at all; 

We had newspapers on the wall
                                     D7
It was air-conditioned in the winter time
           G                                  C
Oh it was just a humble hut but it's door was never shut
           G                    D7     G
And  a man could get inside without a dime 



Chorus
                G       
Don't let 'em tear, that little brown building down
               D7                        G
Don't let 'em tear, that precious building down
                                   C       Am
Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down 
         G               C               D7        G
There's not another like it in the country or the town