Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back by Billy Edd Wheeler They passed an ordinance in the town They said we'd have to tear it down That little old shack out back so dear to me Though the Health Department said It's day was over and dead It will stand forever in my memory Don't let 'em tear, that little brown building down Don't let 'em tear, that precious building down Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down There's not another like it in the country or the town It was not so long ago That I went tripping through the snow Out to that house behind my old hound dog Where I would sit me down to rest Like a snowbird on his nest And I'd read that Sears and Roebuck catalog Oh I would hum a happy tune Peepin' through the quarter moon As my daddy's kin had done so much before It was in that quiet spot, daily cares could be forgot And it gave the same relief to rich and poor Don't let 'em tear, that little brown building down Don't let 'em tear, that precious building down Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down There's not another like it in the country or the town Now it was not a castle fair But I could dream a future there Build my castles to the yellow jacket's drone I could orbit around the sun, fight with Gen,ral Washington Or be a king upon a golden throne It wasn't fancy built at all; We had newspapers on the wall It was air-conditioned in the winter time Oh it was just a humble hut but it's door was never shut And a man could get inside without a dime Don't let 'em tear, that little brown building down Don't let 'em tear, that precious building down Don't let 'em tear that dear old building down There's not another like it in the country or the town