C        G               C
People I know stopped to say
F          C            G
Hello, and I hope that someday
F                                  C            Am
That we'll get electric lights and plumbing put in,
        C             G           C
But I'm too old to be changin' my ways.

[Verse 2]
C              G              C
Now, we never needed anything more
F                        C              G
Than this shack with its weather-beaten door;
F                                   C             Am
Though we may want the things that catalogues can bring,
      C              G           C
Empty wishes leave a wanting man sore.

[Chorus]
C                       G        C
Oh, the light from that old oil lamp
F                     C           G
Lights a way down the well-beaten path;
F                               C              Am
And as memories come back from eighty years or more,
          C         G          C
Goin' to die in my old wooden shack.

[Verse 3]
C                      G            C
Got a horse when I was thirty years old,
F                       C            G
And the horse lived for thirty years more;
F                             C         Am
When the lovely thing died, I hid and I cried,
          C           G        C
Where it's buried now grows a rose.

[Verse 4]
C                      G                C
With the wood that we hauled off those hills
F               C          G
And traded for cash at the mills,
F                                C           Am
Well, we bought all our needs and the animal feeds,
            C           G            C
But there's wood left standing there still.

[Chorus]
C                       G        C
Oh, the light from that old oil lamp
F                     C           G
Lights a way down the well-beaten path;
F                               C              Am
And as memories come back from eighty years or more,
          C         G          C
Goin' to die in my old wooden shack.

[Verse 5]
C                  G          C
I plowed this here garden by force,
F                    C            G
With the will and a mighty strong horse;
F                               C                Am
Though it took a long time to replace rock with lime,
        C               G       C
For the hardships, I'm none the worse.

[Verse 6]
C              G        C
A man belongs where he lives,
F                   C           G
He's a part of the soil and the trees;
F                                 C              Am
And when his life's done, and his life's end has come,
       C          G       C
Take a man to rest in his peace.

[Chorus]
C                       G        C
Oh, the light from that old oil lamp
F                     C           G
Lights a way down the well-beaten path;
F                               C              Am
And as memories come back from eighty years or more,
          C         G          C
Goin' to die in my old wooden shack.

F                               C              Am
And as memories come back from eighty years or more,
          C         G          C
Goin' to die in my old wooden shack.