Arby Sundstrom

The Harder I Work The Luckier I Get

Honoring Arby Sundstrom

(Chorus)
One thing for certain
Through times gone and went
The hard I work
The luckier I get

My grandfather and grandmother
Came to this country
All the way from Sweden
To homestead on the prairie
With a team of horses
Pulling a hay rack
Seven cows, and one colt
Plus a dog and cat
(Chorus)
Their first home had no shingles
When it rained it poured
Inside the house, so they put up
A tent indoors
Where Grandpa made shoes
With leather tops
Made soles out of wood
Few things store bought
(Chorus)
Grandfather was a Christian
Grandmother she was too
Like them spoke Swedish
At home, church, and school
Where father became acquainted
With the girl next door
Though twenty-nine, she nineteen
Who could ask for more
(Chorus)
Father’s name was Carl
Mother’s maiden name was Bye
Took the AR from my Dad
And stuck it to mom’s B-Y
When my father found her
With another man
With a kick out they went
Lost the only mom I had
(Chorus)
Abandoned by my mother
Then dumped by my Dad
Onto my grandparents
Too young to understand
With my sister Edna
Picking through the trash
To find food we could eat
Then set aside the scraps
(Chorus)

Wanted to be a cowboy
So I would ride
The cow from the pasture
At milking time
Grandpa said, “Don’t do it.”
So when I did
HIs willow switch bi-lingual
Listen to me kids!
(Chorus)
So I grabbed my pony
And my .22
At thirteen on my own
What else could you do
But to start working
For room and board
Then wrapping packages
At Dayton’s Department Store
(Chorus)
Then I got drafted
In 1943
Freed prisoners from a concentration
Camp in Germany
When the war was over
Started my career
Working for Carl Pohlad
For over fifty years
(Chorus)
Although still working
My wife and I breed
Mares and stallions
Plus I’m a deputy
On search and rescue
To know wrong from right
For friends and family
Through Jesus Christ
(Chorus)

Words & music by Larry Long

© Larry Long 2008 / BMI