A poor old man came riding by And we say so, and we know so Oh, a poor old man came riding by Oh, poor old man Says, "Hi, old man, your horse will die" And we say so, and we know so And if he dies, we'll tan his hide Oh, poor old man And if he don't, I'll ride him again And we say so, and we know so And I'll ride him until the Lord knows when Oh, poor old man He is dead as a nail in the lamp room door And we say so, and we know so And he won't come worrying us no more Oh, poor old man We'll use the hair of his tail to sew our sails And we say so, and we know so And the iron of his shoes to make deck nails Old poor old man Drop him down with a long long rope And we say so, and we hope so Where the sharks will have his body, and the devil takes his soul Oh, poor old man