Okay, I've got it now, but let me just warn you this is a hang down your head and slit your wrists kind of song, so don't read on unless you've taken your medication...

On a poor farm west of town
Charlie Dalton can be found
Living on the land his daddy owned
With his mule team going round
working in hard rocky ground
Just following the plough is all he knows

Chorus:
Oh he does the best he can
He's a hardworking man
By the sweat of his brow and by the hoe
All he really owns is time
In his pockets not a dime
He's an old time farmer

When the summer's hot and dry
And the children they all cry
and the water in the well is getting low
Guess there's cause for alarm
There's a mortgage on his farm
And disappointment everywhere he goes
(Chorus)

Greasy biscuits and black coffee
his wife Kate does provide
In that fading homemade dress that she's sewed
Guess there's not much left to chew
With the children needing shoes
and the winter coming with ice and snow
(chorus)

Now the weathered barn is leaning
there's rust upon the tin
the old home place looks lonesome
in the January wind
Sitting by the dying fire
In his rocking chair
Charlie bows his head and prays to God
for a better crop next year



See what I mean? Love the tune, though.