A Hard Row To Hoe

(album: Love's Gonna Get Ya - 1986)

Spent my life on a John Deere tractor
Made my living by the sweat of my brow
Raised a family, on the fruit of the land
From the seed of a prairie plant
Caught the wind, of hailing twisters
Fight tear drops, and the bitter cold
But the man-made help, has made my life a hard row to hoe

In our struggle for survival
The farmers bank, a line of loan
I guess it squeezed our every dollar
And the shrinking price of corn
While we lived with Fred and Barbles
And the surplus overflowed
Just to feed my wife and family
Makes it a hard row to hoe

We're the back bone of this nation Lord
It's a painful source of grief
We are the first to feel the pain
And the last to get relief
If things don't change the family farmers
Gonna go the way of the buffalo
Heaven help us lord, it's a hard row to hoe

The final blow, it came this morning
In a note from the FHA
There will be no more extensions
On the loan that I can't pay
There gonna sell my farm at an auction
Lock stock and cotton wool
That leaves me, my wife and babies
With a hard row to hoe

We're the back bone of this nation Lord
It's a painful source of grief
We are the first to feel the pain
And the last to get relief
If things don't change the family farmer
Is gonna go the way of the buffalo
Heaven help us lord, it's a hard row to hoe
Heaven help us lord, it's a hard row to hoe