Stands a shanty in the field there all alone

A worn out burlap sack hanging oe’r the window

And the smoke from an old wood burnin stove

In the shanty lives an old man from nowhere

Where the only thing he ever knew was grief

Momma said he was a drunkard in her childhood

She wished that he’d just pack his things and leave

Chorus:

Don’t you go near the shanty son the old man’s got a gun

And when he gets to drinkin he’ll shoot it just for fun

But they never knew that I was the old man’s only friend

The old man in the shanty how I still remember him

Sunday mornin’s I’d slip out of my window

He’d be waitin in the shanty by the door

A plate of homemade bread, bacon, eggs and butter

That he’d made on is old wood burnin stove

Well he told me how he came about living there

How his family had died that awful day

Now the only thing he turned to was the bottle

And never since has he let the bottle lay

Chorus:

Don’t you go near the shanty son the old man’s got a gun…

Well today was the last time that I saw him

So I guess the bottle finally won

With a dying breath he turned up to the ceiling

Said God forgive me for all that I have done

Well I layed him in the place that he showed me

I said a prayer and sang a song as I dug

No one knew what had happened to the stranger

They thought that he’d just packed his things and gone

Chorus:

Don’t you go near the shanty son the old man’s got a gun…