Beckett's Back Forty Acres

(album: I Made It - 2015)

In Knox County nobody was famous
Just a map dot that people passed through
Everybody grew corn and tomatoes
Well at least, as far as we knew

Old man Beckett owned 200 acres
From sunup 'til sundown he worked
And just like the rest of our neighbors
He seemed like the salt of the earth

But we all knew something was different
When the market hit bottom that year
While the rest of the county was starving
He brought home a brand new John Deere

Well, that rumor mill starting a-churning
Down at the Lucky Dog Café
And it spread through our church congregation
When he put... a grand... in the plate

Had his lotto numbers turned lucky
Or did some rich relative die
Where on God's earth did he get the money
To install that jacuzzi outside

One night after fishing with all of the fellas
Curiosity got the best of us
So we crept through his corn rows
With flashlights and high hopes
We'd see... what the truth... really was
'Til we were stopped by a shot from his gun

We scattered in every direction
Grateful to get out alive
What happened that night was never mentioned
'Til the day, the day arrived
With helicopters and squad cars
That completely surrounded his place
They cut down all of his cash crops
I can still see the shame on his face

As they hauled him away in those handcuffs
For growing what he shouldn't grow
He said, careful kids one day you'll end up
Reaping the seeds that you sow

In Knox County nobody was famous
Just a map dot that people passed through
Everybody grew corn and tomatoes
Well at least, as far as we knew