Growing Trade Lyrics - Electric Dirt - Levon Helm

I worked the land to raise a family 

Til I was weary to the bone 

But hard labor never bothered me 

Lord it's all I've ever known 

Too many seasons of calamity 

And too much interest on the loan 

I'm half the size that I used to be 

And half of that is stone 

The crops ain't worth the seeding 

10 will only get you 5 

The livestock I'ma feedin' 

I can hardly keep 'em alive 

I gotta do what I can to survive 

I know the law won't be forgiving 

But that'll be the choice I made 

I used to farm for a living 

And now I'm in the growing trade 

The summer beauty of the cotton field 

Was like a view from Heaven's door 

My granddaddy said that harvest time 

Was what the good Lord made us for 

I guess he'd wonder where's the dignity 

In a crop you raise to burn 

But this land is my legacy 

I got nowhere else to turn 

Shotgun on my shoulder 

Where a tote sack oughta be 

The thieves are getting bolder 

And the feds may be watchin' me 

I gotta quit this eventually 

I know the law won't be forgiving 

But that'll be the choice I made 

I used to farm for a living 

But now I'm in the growing trade 

Helicopters in the distance 

Coming closer everyday 

They're gonna meet some resistance 

Aint no price I wouldn't pay 

There won't be any difference 

When they take it all away 

Between a cot in the jail house 

And a bed beneath the clay 

I guess there's nothing to do now but pray 

I know the law won't be forgiving 

But that'll be the choice I made 

I used to farm for a living 

And now I'm in the growing trade