<p class="tit-song">GREER COUNTY <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page278" name="page278"></SPAN>(p. 278)</span></p>
<p>Tom Hight is my name, an old bachelor I am,<br/>
You'll find me out West in the country of fame,<br/>
You'll find me out West on an elegant plain,<br/>
And starving to death on my government claim.</p>
<p class="add2em">Hurrah for Greer County!<br/>
The land of the free,<br/>
The land of the bed-bug,<br/>
Grass-hopper and flea;<br/>
I'll sing of its praises<br/>
And tell of its fame,<br/>
While starving to death<br/>
On my government claim.</p>
<p>My house is built of natural sod,<br/>
Its walls are erected according to hod;<br/>
Its roof has no pitch but is level and plain,<br/>
I always get wet if it happens to rain.</p>
<p>How happy am I on my government claim,<br/>
I've nothing to lose, and nothing to gain;<br/>
I've nothing to eat, I've nothing to wear,—<br/>
From nothing to nothing is the hardest fare.</p>
<p>How happy am I when I crawl into bed,—<br/>
A rattlesnake hisses a tune at my head,<br/>
A <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="page279" name="page279"></SPAN>(p. 279)</span> gay little centipede, all without fear,<br/>
Crawls over my pillow and into my ear.</p>
<p>Now all you claim holders, I hope you will stay<br/>
And chew your hard tack till you're toothless and gray;<br/>
But for myself, I'll no longer remain<br/>
To starve like a dog on my government claim.</p>
<p>My clothes are all ragged as my language is rough,<br/>
My bread is corn dodgers, both solid and tough;<br/>
But yet I am happy, and live at my ease<br/>
On sorghum molasses, bacon, and cheese.</p>
<p>Good-bye to Greer County where blizzards arise,<br/>
Where the sun never sinks and a flea never dies,<br/>
And the wind never ceases but always remains<br/>
Till it starves us all out on our government claims.</p>
<p>Farewell to Greer County, farewell to the West,<br/>
I'll travel back East to the girl I love best,<br/>
I'll travel back to Texas and marry me a wife,<br/>
And quit corn bread for the rest of my life.</p>
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