When It's Got To Be, - Like! Always Say, As I Notice The Years Whiz Past, And Know Each Day Is A Yesterday, When We Size It Up, At Last, - Same As I Said When My Boyhood Went And I Knowed We Had To Quit, - "It's Got To Be, And It's Goin' To Be!" - So I Said "Good-By" To It. It's Got To Be, And It's Goin' To Be! So At Least I Always Try To Kind O' Say In A Hearty Way, - "Well, It's Got To Be. Good-By!" The Time Jes Melts Like A Late, Last Snow, - When It's Got To Be, It Melts! But I Aim To Keep A Cheerful Mind, Ef I Can't Keep Nothin' Else! I Knowed, When I Come To Twenty-One, That I'd Soon Be Twenty-Two, - So I Waved One Hand At The Soft Young Man, And I Said, "Good-By To You!" It's Got To Be, And It's Goin' To Be! So At Least I Always Try To Kind O' Say, In A Cheerful Way, - "Well, It's Got To Be. - Good-By!" They Kep' A-Goin', The Years And Years, Yet Still I Smiled And Smiled, - For I'd Said "Good-By" To My Single Life, And I Now Had A Wife And Child: Mother And Son And The Father - One, - Till, Last, On Her Bed Of Pain, She Jes' Smiled Up, Like She Always Done, - And I Said "Good-By" Again. It's Got To Be, And It's Goin' To Be! So At Least I Always Try To Kind O' Say, In A Humble Way, - "Well, It's Got To Be. Good-By!" And Then My Boy - As He Growed To Be Almost A Man In Size, - Was More Than A Pride And Joy To Me, With His Mother'S Smilin' Eyes. - He Gimme The Slip, When The War Broke Out, And Followed Me. And I Never Knowed Till The First Right'S End ... I Found Him, And Then, ... "Good-By." It's Got To Be, And It's Goin' To Be! So At Least I Always Try To Kind O' Say, In A Patient Way, "Well, It's Got To Be. Good-By!" I Have Said, "Good-By! - Good-By! - Good-By!" With My Very Best Good Will, All Through Life From The First, - And I Am A Cheerful Old Man Still: But It's Got To End, And It's Goin' To End! And This Is The Thing I'll Do, - With My Last Breath I Will Laugh, O Death, And Say "Good-By" To You!... It's Got To Be! And Again I Say, - When His Old Scythe Circles High, I'll Laugh - Of Course, In The Kindest Way, - As I Say "Good-By! - Good-By!"