I been workin on the farm

Just me and my brother Jack

Choppin a sea of cotton

Till I thought Id break my back

Everything changed

When my daddy got hurt

Our lives were so connected

to that brown ol flatland dirt



When the government man from Austin

Come sniffin around our land

Askin a bunch of questions 

That we did not understand

Theres more to farmin cotton

Than just tendin to your seed

The ones who set the policy

Dont give a damn about our needs



Sow the seed in the ground below

Fall to your knees and pray real slow

That rain will come and kiss the seed

And Bless you with all that you need



Mama says to Jackie

Would she bring the car around?

Shes wearin her finest dress

Thats how I know shes goin to town

I wish Id never seen that letter

That I found there in her room

Theyre sellin the farm on the courthouse step

This Saturday afternoon



Me and Jack moved into town

To a shack by the train depot

Jack got a job as a bouncer

At a Bar on Paradise Row

Mama got a job in the cotton gin

Grading cotton by the bale

She cried when a trailor full of cotton come in

From the farm we had to sell



Sow the seed in the ground below

Fall to your knees and pray real slow

That rain will come and kiss the seed

And Bless you with all that you need



Me, I ended up in jail

Sick of livin on welfare

And the hardest thing ever happend to me

Is when mama come to vist me there

Dont you worry your pretty little head

I said as I buttoned my shirt

When I get out of this Iron Hotel

Im goin back to that Dryland dirt



For some its just a livin

But for Us its our whole life

If it kills me Im gonna rake that dirt

And make a livin out of toil and strife

The ways of the cities makes no sense

Strapped to dependency

Id rather be sweatin aneath a clear blue sky

Plantin cotton with my family





Sow the seed in the ground below

Fall to your knees and pray real slow

That rain will come and kiss the seed

And Bless you with all that you need