I worked the land to raise a family
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'Til I was weary to the bone
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But hard labor never bothered me
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Lord it's all I've ever known
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To many seasons of calamity
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And too much interest on a loan
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I'm half the size that I used to be
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And half of that is gone
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The crops ain't worth the seeding
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Timber only gets you fire
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The last hog I was feeding
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I can hardly keep him alive
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I got to do what I can to survive
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I know the law won't be forgiving
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But that will be the choice I made
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I used to farm for a living
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And now I'm in the growing trade
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The summer beauty of the cotton field
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Was like a view from heaven's door
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My granddaddy said that harvest time
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Was what the good Lord made us for
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I guess you'd wonder where's the dignity
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In a crop you raise to burn
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But this land is my legacy
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I got nowhere else to turn
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A shotgun on my shoulder
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Where a tow sack ought to be
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The thieves are getting bolder
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And the feds may be wise to me
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I got to quit this eventually.
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I know the law won't be forgiving
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But that will be the choice I made
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I used to farm for a living
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And now I'm in the growing trade
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Hell, the copters and the distance?
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Coming closer every day.
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There gonna meet some resistance
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Ain't no price too rich to pay.
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There won't be any business
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When they take it all away.
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Between the cop in the jailhouse
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And a bed beneath the clay
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I guess there's nothing to do now but pray.
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I know the law won't be forgiving
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But that will be the choice I made
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I used to farm for a living
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And now I'm in the growing trade
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I used to farm for a living
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And now I'm in the growing trade
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Growing Trade
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Levon Helm |