Little Dug-Out Soddy On The Plains
by:  Utah Phillips
Starlight On the Rails
Banjo tuned E, Key A, Capo 3
(Not sure of the D7 second verse; but that
is what he Bruce phillips shows)


          A                E7           A    
There's a little dug-out soddy on the plains,
                                        E7
The wind it blows and the sky it seldom rains
      A                 A7       D
There ain't no place to go, so I'll just go insane
        A              E7           A
In my little dug-out soddy on the plains.

       E7                     A
The broad Ohio Valley was my home,
      E7                          A
In eight-een seventy-one I had to roam
                                            D7(?)
How I wished I had stayed and left those sandy hills alone,
     E7                       A
Far away from my Ohio Valley home.

       D                                A
There's better times a coming, wait and see,
       B7                               E7
When Tilden is elected, he will end our misery
       D                       A               F#m
He's making lots of promises, Oh please remember me,
        A             E7           A
In my little dug-out soddy on the plains.

In the year of seventy-three I took a wife;
I could not weasel out to save my life;
Her daddy was an Injun, said he'd skin me with his knife,
If I did not take his daughter for my wife.
I haven't got a dollar for my seed;
You ought to see the bill I owe for feed;
There's a banker down in town, says he'll loan me all I need,
If I'll ride in and sign a mortgage deed.

In the year of seventy-five I went bust;
Left my wife and me without a single crust;
We got sick on poison water and tired of plowin' dust,
Watchin' all our friends and neighbors goin' bust.
Things they got so bad I couldn't stay;
Made up my mind to hire out for pay;
I was beaten, cursed and robbed and starvin' anyway,
So I turned around and went back home to stay.

When I got home the pox had took my wife;
And the damned raw-hiders nearly got my life;
When I get to heaven no more trouble, toil or strife,
As long as I don't run into my wife.
Now young feller before you head out west,
You have listened to my story of distress;
Oh, a cowboy's life is handsome, some say it is the best;
But a prairie farmer's life is just a mess.

Copyright ©1973, 2000 Bruce Phillips