(D) G C G / G D7 / G C G / G D7 G / Em Bm / Em D7 / G C G / G D7 G

One night a poor wretch in a wayside saloon
Was lingering half drunken about
Heard the voice of the rum seller's wife, as she said
"Go put yonder drunken fool out."
The rum seller smiling, he made this reply
In a voice that would brook no reproof
"Let him stay if he wants, he is doing no harm
The fellow is shingling our roof."

D7 G D7 / D7 G / G C G / D7 G

Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
While your own house decays, are you spending your days
Just shingling the rum seller's roof?

The months passed by, and he did not return
The rum seller noted with pain
So seeking him out with hospitable air
He asked his old friend to explain
"You want me to visit again your saloon
And ask why I linger aloof
With thanks for your kindness, this answer I'll give
Because I've been shingling your roof."

Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
While your own house decays, are you spending your days
Just shingling the rum seller's roof?

All ye who are shingling the rum seller's roof
And robbing yourselves and your own
Remember the winter of life draweth nigh
And soon will the summer have flown
'Twill be no avail in the day of God's wrath
To offer high heaven the proof
That your own house is desolate only because
You've shingled the rum seller's roof

Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
While your own house decays, are you spending your days
Just shingling the rum seller's roof?

And woe to the man with the rum seller's heart
Who covers himself at the cost
Of mankind and womankind, marred and despoiled
Whose gain is that others are lost
On the day when his roof around him shall fall
And the weight of his sins bear the proof
And the lost he has ruined shall crush him and cry
"We shingled the rum seller's roof."

Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
Are you shingling the rum seller's roof?
While your own house decays, are you spending your days
Just shingling the rum seller's roof?