For anyone else interested, these are the lyrics I have transcribed. The chords--my guesstimates--probably don't line up, but if you have heard the song, you can probably figure out where the changes go. Maybe I'll just do it "the old-fashioned way" and bring what I have to a festival or group play session and toss it out for comments. Anyway, here are the words:

You Better Get it While You Can

G                                               C                                        G
I remember when I met Carl Martin, it musta been a dozen years ago.
            Em                CG                   C        G                D                      G
This wise old gent was grey and bent, but his eyes had a firey glow.

He was born April Fool's day of 1906 near Big Stone Gap, VA.

He could play a little fiddle and some blues guitar that he'd picked up along the way.

But, Jethro once he put his hands on the mandolin, he lit up just like a Christmas tree,

Along with Ted Bogan and Howard Armstrong they were the best string band I ever did see.
Now for fifty-odd years they played rent parties road housess, concerts and festivals, too.
At the drop of a hat, these three Black cats would play ya every song they knew.
It was "Lady Be Good" and "The Barnyard Dance" and "The Ice Cream Freezer Blues."
Now they'd trot the oldest chestnuts out and make every one sound brand-new.
And little white boys with their shiny guitars would follow right along at their heels.
They learned all the words and they learned all the chords, but they never did learn how it feels.
Now one night I asked Carl where he got the fire, and he said, "Steve you gotta understand:
You wanna be someone, you gotta have some fun, and you better get it while you can."

(cho.)        
                G/C                G                                                    D
He said, "You better get it while you can. You better get it while you can.
        Em                        D           C                        G                        C        
If you wait too long, it'll all be gone, and you'll be sorry then.
G        D            G
It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, and it's the same for a woman or a man.
G        D            G
From the cradle to the crypt is a mighty short trip, so you better get it while you can."

Carl always had a way to make the good times roll, when the rest of us weren't so sure.
He'd just pick out the prettiest woman in the room, and sing every song to her.
Now one night back East when the gig was done, there was an all-night blow-out jam.
We played and we sang and we drank for hours, until the Sun came up again.
It was blues and ballads, ragtime, Dixieland, swing, some oldtime show tunes,
And then Carl Martin sang some songs nobody else knew, and some I haven't heard since then.
But right before dawn he did two more songs just to separate the strong from the faint.
It was a redhot rendition of "The Old Pine Tree," and a doubletime version of "The Saints..."
With the mandolin behind his head!
Whne he was done, those of us who could still breath, took off our hats to that man.
Carl had played everyobody under the table that night, and he said, you better get it while you can."

cho.

You know, Carl and his buddies never got very far, and when he died, Martin didn't have a dime.
He was a little behind in his payments, and a little bit ahead of his time.
Last week some so-called musicians stayed up real late and burned one down.
The liquor kept coming, so we kept strumming, til a minute or two before dawn.
Some of us stayed and some of us faded and soon I was left all alone.
Now I don't believe in ghosts, but I could swear I heard Carl Martin singing one more song.

It went..

cho.