The Happy Homestead

I’m a’ workin’ at the Happy Homestead
Doin’ my time because the lawman said
Forty more hours before they set me free
Diggin’ up weeds and bee hives too
Sweepin’ off gravestones old and new
Doin’ everything that they tell me to
Workin’ at the Happy Homestead

See, I landed this job just the other day
Because I broke the law, and now I gotta pay
I get up at the crack of dawn
Work in the cemetery all day long
Pickin’ up pine cones, and throwin’ dead flowers away

I’m a’ workin’ at the Happy Homestead
Doin’ my time because the lawman said
Twenty more hours before they set me free
Diggin’ up weeds and bee hives too
Sweepin’ off gravestones old and new
Doin’ everything that they tell me to
Workin’ at the Happy Homestead

But as it goes, I suppose it could be worse
I could be like these folks, six feet in the dirt
But then again, they ain’t got no bills to pay
Sometimes I think that I just might be better off that way
But then again, I’ve only got, like, half of one more day

Then I’ll be done workin’ at the Happy Homestead
Doin’ my time like the lawman said
Just a few hours before they set me free
And I’m gonna be a Good Samaritan
‘Cause I don’t wanna land this job again
Oh, what a sad old time it’s been
Workin’ at the Happy Homestead
Workin’ at the Happy Homestead
And I ain’t comin’ back here ‘till the day I’m dead