O.K.,Lamarca,here it is:

Eighty Acres

Well, we're packing up the car today, my wife and kids and all
Heading on to Kansas City with it's buildings tall
Been farming in West Kansas, like my Dad and Grandad too
But farming now it's a hard old life, I tell you boys, I'm through

Yesterday they sold it all, the tractor and the plow
They auctioned everything we owned, they're someone else's now
That pickup truck that Grandad owned, it brought a handsome bid
I remember riding next to him, when I was just a kid

CHORUS:

And I can hear my Grandad's voice, a ghost upon the wind
Don't leave this farm I've worked to build, don't leave it darling Jim
But Grandad we just have to leave, though it really seems a sin
But we just can't make a go on eighty acres
No, we just can't make a go on eighty acres

So it's one last look around the place, before we have to go
How we'll make it in the city, the Good Lord only knows
I hate to leave my birthplace with it's dusty windowsills
But twenty years of toil and sweat has only brought me bills

Chorus

And there stands the porch swing where they spent so many hours
My Grandma and my Grandad, two western Kansas flowers
They had the good and bad of it, as much as anyone
We'll be leaving now for Kansas City, with the setting sun

Chorus

Words and music by Jerry Rau

I used to sing this song, but I could never get the weariness the way that Jerry could. From what I remember, he heard this story from a couple who had just gone through the experience described here. Like all good songwriters, Jerry took an individual story and transformed it into something that we can all relate to. I think that Jerry got the feeling better than anyone else could, because he heard the story, first-hand.

Anybody have an e-mail address for him?

Jerry