It's the only song that Dad played and sang without any kind of introduction.  Most songs had some kind of measure to give us a hint of what was coming but not Shanty in Old Shanty Town.  Such a pretty song.

It's only a shanty in old Shanty Town.

The roof is so slanty it touches the ground.

But that tumbled down shack

By the old railroad track,

Like a millionaire's mansion

Is calling me back.

I'd give up a palace if I were a king.

It's more than a palace it's my everything.

There's a girl waiting there

With a silvery crown-

In that shanty in old Shanty Town.

When I was around twelve I found another version of it on an album we had.  Dad's version was slow and plaintive.  This other version was kind of a jazzed up version.  The words were basically the same but they had little details added in between for "color'.

There's a shanty in a town on a little plot of ground

Where the green grass grows all around, all around

And the roof's so worn, so badly torn,

That it tumbles to the ground.

In a little grass shack that sits way back

About 25 feet from the railroad track

Lingers on my mind most all the time

Keeps calling me back to my little grass shack

I'd be as sassy as Haile Selassie

If I were a king, wouldn't mean a thing

Put my boots on tall, read the writing on the wall

Don't mean a thing, not a doggone thing

There's a queen waiting there in a rocking chair

Just blowing her top on a keg of beer

Looking all around and trucking on down

Cause I got to get back to my Shanty Town.

For a while Dad and I sang these together for fun.  I didn't usually sing with dad but I treasure the memory of the few times he let me sing with him.