Arkansas Traveler

Oh, once upon a time in Arkansas

An old man sat in his little cabin door

And fiddled at a tune that he liked to hear

A jolly old tune that he played by ear.



It was raining hard but the fiddler didn't care

He sawed away at the popular air

Though his rooftop leaked like a waterfall

That didn't seem to bother the old man at all.



A traveler was riding by that day

And stopped to hear him a-fiddling away

The cabin was afloat and his feet were wet

But the old man still didn't seem to fret.



So the stranger said Now the way it seems to me

You'd better mend your roof said he

But the old man said as he played away

I couldn't mend it now it's a rainy day.



The traveler replied that's all quite true

But this I think is the thing for you to do

Get busy on a day that is fair and bright

Then patch the old roof till it's good and tight.



But the old man kept on a-playing at his reel

And tapped the ground with his leathery heel

Get along said he for you give me a pain

My cabin never leaks when it doesn't rain...