Lyr Req: Eighty Acres

Subject: Eighty Acres
From: GUEST,lamarca
Date: 04 Feb 02 - 09:47 PM

I'm trying to remember a song that has a repeating line something like "You can't make a go on eighty acres" about the futility of trying to make it on a small farm in these days of agribusiness. (I'm writing a report on homesteading in the arid West, and why the Homestead Act allotment of 80-160 acres was a bad idea then, and is still a bad idea now).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Feb 02 - 09:51 PM

In this thread on farming songs, Art Thieme said the song was by Jerry Rau. Maybe he has more information?

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Oops - messed up link works now. --Not so mysterious JoeClone

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: GUEST,lamarca
Date: 04 Feb 02 - 10:19 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: GUEST,lamarca
Date: 04 Feb 02 - 10:23 PM

God, I hate Windows! (I hit something that submitted rather than moving down to the text box...)

I looked up that old thread, Jeri, too, but didn't see any other discussions about the song here. I looked up Jerry Rau on Google, and none of the references listed a song that sounded like Eighty Acres, so I'm stumped...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Hrothgar
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 07:29 AM

Marty Robbins did a song about a hundred and sixty acres in the valley - will that be twice as good?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 09:13 AM

Nope, the song was written by Jerry Rau, and old friend of mine. I have a tape of him doing it, if I can get the time to pull it out and transcribe the lyrics. It is a truly wonderful song... a Farmer talking about having to move into Kansas City after being forced to sell his farm. Jerry is a fine songwriter that few people have ever heard of. Most of the years that I've known him, he's lived in Minneapolis, although I've lost contact with him. If you ever see his name somewhere, go to hear him..
Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: lamarca
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 01:20 PM

Thanks, Jerry! Do you know on which of Rau's recordings the song appears (if any...)? I can't remember who I heard singing it, but it made an impression as a moving portrait of hard times. My husband and I seem to be drawn to hard-times songs, so much so that we have trouble crafting a setlist that won't leave our audiences feeling vaguely suicidal by the end...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 01:30 PM

Hi, Lamarca:

I'm pretty sure that I have it on tape. Looks like I'd better head downstairs to my music room and find it. I have two or three of Jerry's albums, but I don't think that it's on the ones that I have. He may have recorded it later..

Jerry

Subject: Lyr Add: EIGHTY ACRES (Jerry Rau)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 01:56 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: lamarca
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 02:15 PM

Thank you very much, Jerry - maybe if Art drifts through and sees this he can put us in touch with Jerry (Rau).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 02:49 PM

I just spoke to Art, and he doesn't have a contact for Jerry Rau any more. I've lost touch with him, too. Maybe someone will read this thread who knows where he is. Art reminded me that he recorded Eighty Acres on his Live At Winfield cassette if you can get your hands on it. It was a limited edition.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: lamarca
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 03:15 PM

Yes! That must be where I heard it - we got Art's cassette from Cathy Fink. As Art says, when your memory goes, forget it!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 11:15 PM

Live at winfield is a great cassette and eighty acres is one of the highlights.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 03:29 PM

Information about Jerry Rau on the Internet is rather sketchy. Apparently he doesn't have his own site, and I can't find a site for Minstrel Music, the label of his most recent CD "Road to the Sun." (I suspect he owns the label.) His mailing address is PO Box 13014, Minneapolis, MN 55414. (According to the playlists of some radio stations.)

The most recent information I have been able to find out about him is that he is scheduled to play at the Bothy Folk Club in Mankato, MN on February 9, 2002.

There is a phone number listed for a "J. Rau" in Minneapolis, but I really don't know if it's the right guy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 06:14 PM

Thanks, Jim: I may just give the number a call and see if it's Jerry. If it is, I'll let you know. I'm glad to hear that he's still recording. He is a fine talent... makes me think that we should have a thread honoring all those wonderful musicians and songwriters who have lived their life on the road and written a whole slew of great songs, who almost no one has ever heard of. Jerry would be at the top of my list. I never met a man so completely unnaffected in his performing. And a good songwriter, to boot. I always liked his song, "Driving In The Right Hand Land," about the pleasures of slowing down and enjoying the beauty that's all around us.
Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eighty Acres
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 07:38 PM

I tried the phone number for J. Rau in Minneapolis and it is out of service. Jerry is never in one place for any period of time.. maybe he'll surface somewhere.. thanks for trying to find him.
Jerry