Thirty Years of Farming

There’s a little white note on the gate by the road

That a man put up yesterday

And when we saw it we all ran out

Just to see what it had to say

And when we read it our eyes filled with tears

And they fell to the cold hard clay

Somethin’ ‘bout a mortgage, somethin’ ‘bout foreclosure

Somethin bout failin’ to pay

Chorus:

And on a post by the general store

They put up a little sign

An auction sale day after tomorrow

At the end of Lincoln Line

Thirty years of farmin’ and thirty years of heartache

Thirty years of day to day

Oh my daddy stopped talkin’, the day the farm was auctioned

There was nothin’ left to say

Oh my mamma’s tears fell freely down

As she walked among the flowers in the yard

And every number the auctioneer called

Was like a blow to her precious heart

And every number the auctioneer called

And another thing was sold that day

While everything was auctioned, we stood there a watchin’

While they loaded it and hauled it away

Chorus:

And on a post by the general store…

On the day’s worst dawnin’ we woke this mornin’

There was nothin’ for us to do

Nothin’ in the granary, no hay in the meadow

No cattle, no tractor, no tools

So we loaded up the car, took the clothes we wore

And a few things we managed to save

Mamma read from the book, we took one last look

And then we drove away

Chorus:

And on a post by the general store…