Standard (EADGBE)

You're never far away from me

 I've had this lock of your hair now for a half a century or more

 I keep it in a matchbox in the pocket of my coat

Saturdays I go to town just to make them laugh

I learned to drive when I was 65 years old

 And I sit poker-straight behind the wheel

 Mother died of influenza when we kids were small

 Father never smiled again and seemed to shrink with every passing year

 Everybody sigh and put your hands on your hips

 But when I get those old songs in my head

 I can’t keep my fingers off the keys

Through my research I have found all it takes to keep the chickens

Laying eggs is opera or Gershwin played at low volumes on dad's old radio

One concession for the hens destined for slaughter:

I read them poetry, they like the Yeats the best

 And frankly, so do I

Who wouldn’t like to wake up on the Isle of Innisfree

To muck about that bee-loud glade like he?

Everybody sigh and put your hands on your hips

 What's good enough for chickens is plenty good enough for you and me

You're never far away from me

 I've had this lock of your hair now for a half a century or more

 I keep it in a matchbox in the pocket of my coat

Farlen takes credit for the tabbing of the chords but not the lyrics.