The Migrant Mother

My sisters and brothers they hated so bad To see me go west like someone gone mad To leave all my loved ones and kiss them goodbye Just hoping I'd see them in the sweet by-and-by California promised heaven (All the leaves are brown) A heaven we could not deny (And the sky is grey) But the dust we're running from still stalks us in the night And all we've found's a bitter lie With our lives on our backs, beat a path in the earth Just hoping that we'd find blue skies and work The farmlands and sawmills worked fine for a time But with the father's death came our decline He that would the daughter win Must with the mother first begin Diligence is the mother of good luck Diligence is the mother of good luck They don't need to know my name Hide their faces, spare my children the shame They don't need to know my name Hide their faces, spare my children the shame Where is the children's father? Sacrificed on or left to the altar Where is the life I was promised? Best left unasked and best left unwanted How did they end up here? What are they going to do? How did they end up here? What are they going to do? He that would the daughter win Must with the mother first begin Diligence is the mother of good luck Diligence is the mother of good luck Good luck, good luck, good luck Good luck, good luck, good luck California promised heaven (All the leaves are brown) A heaven we could not deny (And the sky is grey) But I'll deny most anything Rags and riches, gods and kings Just need to feel the wheels underneath me