This Ole House

The best song ever written about old age...

"This Ole House" (sometimes spelled "This Old House") is an American popular song written by Stuart Hamblen, and published in 1954.

[Verse 1]

This old house once knew my children

This old house once knew my wife

This old house was home and comfort

As we fought the storms of life

This old house once rang with laughter

This old house heard many shouts

Now she trembles in the darkness

When the lightnin' walks about

[Verse 2]

This old house is a-gettin' shaky

This old house is a-gettin' old

This old house lets in the rain

This old house lets in the cold

Oh my knees are gettin' chilly

But I feel no fear or pain

’Cause I see an angel peekin’

Through a broken window-pane

[Verse 3]

Now this old house is afraid of thunder

This old house is afraid of storms

This old house just groans and trembles

When the night wind flings its arms

This old house is a-gettin' feeble

This old house is a-needin' paint

Just like me, it's tuckered out

But I'm gettin' ready to meet the saints

[Verse 4]

Now my old hound dog lies asleepin'

He don't know I'm gonna leave

Else he'd wake up by the fireplace

And he'd sit there and howl and grieve

But my huntin' days are over

Ain't gonna hunt the 'coon no more

Gabriel done brought in my chariot

When the wind blew down the door

[Chorus]

Ain't gonna need this house no longer

Ain't gonna need this house no more

Ain't got time to fix the shingles

Ain't got time to fix the floor

Ain't got time to oil the hinges

Nor to mend the window-pane

Ain't gonna need this house no longer

I'm gettin' ready to meet the saints

Here are two videos. The first is recorded by the man who wrote the song. The second is performed by George Younce and the Cathedrals quartet.

Stuart Hamblen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-OzFrbCYzk

George Younce and the Cathedrals

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoghigJ1MBA

Ecclesiastes 12

1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.