Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)

Way back in my memory

There's a scene that I recall

Of a little run-down cabin in the woods

Where my daddy never promised

That our blue moon would turn gold

But he lay awake nights wishing that it would

When the world was on our radio

Hard work was on our minds

We lived our day to day in plain dirt fashion

With ol' overalls and cotton balls

All strapped across your back

Man, it's hard to make believe ain't nothing wrong

But Mama kept the Bible read

And Daddy kept our family fed

And somewhere in between I must have grown

'Cause someday I was dreamin'

That a song that I was singin'

Takes me down the road to where I wanna go

Now I know

It's a long, hard road

Sometimes I remember

When I stay up late at night

When the summer came, we got up and went

In the shadows of a workin' day

Our moonlight hours spent

Singing songs along with Grandma's radio

Now I've beaten down an old blacktop road

And sleepin' in a sack

Livin' up my memories all in vain

'Cause those city lights ain't all that bright

Compared to what it's like

To see lightning bugs go dancin' in the rain

Mama played the guitar then

And Daddy made the sawblade bend

And raindrops played the tin roof like a drum

But I just kept on dreamin'

That a song that I was singin'

Takes me down the road to where my name is known

Now I'm gone

And it's a long, hard road

Yes, I know

It's a long, hard road