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A popular song from 1923.
Words by Jack Yellen.
Music by Milton Ager.


Sheet music provided by Laurence Rubenstein:


Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:


Lyrics

  1. I used to laugh at homesick songs
    About the one-horse town
    And wonder why the lonely jays
    Would hunger for their country days
    But in my heart’s a rustic yearning
    That I can’t keep down
    Like the rest of the hicks
    I’m going back to the sticks

Chorus
Back home I’ll roam
Down that sleepy old Main Street
A score or more of my old time pals I’ll meet
And tho’ they’re simple out of date folks
I know that they’re a lot of great folks
I hear them shouting out, “How be ya!
We’re surely mighty glad to see ya!”
Each face, each place will recall some happy times
Old trails, old tales whisper’d to the church bells’ chime
Some day the sexton will ring ’em
For me and someone in gingham
I’ll be so happy when I get back home

  1. When fickle Fortune turns her smile into a dreary frown
    Back home there’s sunshine in the skies
    A gleam of joy in smiling eyes
    It doesn’t matter if my castles all have tumbled down
    Without fortune or fame, I’m welcome there just the same

Sung here by Fred Feild: