Joe Ely: All That You Need

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