THE PEOPLE ARE SCRATCHING
(1963. words Ernie Marrs and Harold Martin, Music by Pete Seeger)

Come fill up your glasses and set yourself down,
I'll tell you a story of somebody's town.
It isn't too near and it's not far away.
It's not a place where I'd want to stay.

CH
The people are scratching all over the street,
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.

Winter came in with a cold icy blast;
It killed off the flowers and killed off the grass.
Rabbits were starving because of the freeze;
They started to eat the bark on the trees.

CH

The farmers said, "This sort of thing won't do.
Our trees will be dead before the rabbits get through.
We'll have to poison those rabbits it's clear,
Or we'll have no crops to harvest next year.

CH

So they brought in the poison and they spread it around;
Soon dead rabbits began to be found.
Dogs ate the rabbits but the farmers just said,
"We'll poison those rabbits till the last dog is dead."

CH
Up in the sky there were meat-eating fowls;
The dead rabbits poisoned the hawks and the owls.
All the field mice the hawks used to chase
Started multiplying all over the place.

CH

The fields and the meadows were barren and brown;
The mice got hungry and moved into town.
City folks took the farmers' advice
And all of them started to poison the mice.

CH

There were dead mice in all the apartments and flats;
Cats ate the mice and the mice killed the cats.
The smell was awful and I'm sure glad to say
I wasn't the man hired to haul them away.

CH

All through the country and all through the town
There wasn't a dog or a cat to be found.
The fleas asked each other, "Now where can we stay?"
They've been on the people from then till this day.

CH

All you small creatures who live in this land
Stay clear of the man with the poisonous hand.
A few bales of hay might keep you alive,
But he'll pay more to kill you than to let you survive.

CH ^^