I remember that summer
I was ten years old
When our days ceased to shine
No, you could not take a breath
When those black blizzards came
Strippin' land in dire need of rain
There was dirt on the floor
As mama swept all day long
Leavin' trails of tears and mud down her face
There was dirt in our beds
And there was dirt in our clothes
And there was dirt in the little that we ate
We had heard about the market's fall
A couple years before
But the fields and the harvest all seemed fine
Sometimes the things that kill us
That which we don't know
That strip the land of everything but pride
Stay close together
That's all we knew to get by
I recall a helpless feelin'
First time that I saw my father cry
Looking back on everything we had, on everything we lost
Still makes me wonder was staying worth the cost?
But the town folk up and left
They boarded up the schools and banks and the churches
And that, to me, was wrong
Come next year, it would be better
For the last one standing tall
For the ones, that showed the most resolved.
They announced the New Deal
With the Conservation Act and then the Relief Fund
But we were on our knees
There was little hope by then
So we just stood there in that line
And we thanked the man for that little bit of cheese
Stay close together
That's all we knew to get by
How I recall a helpless feelin'
The first time that I saw my father cry
Looking back on everything we had, on everything we lost
Still makes me wonder was stayin' worth the cost?