My family worked a farm up in north Yazoo
by the crook of a feeder’s where our cotton grew
Up to my neck after one rainy spring
Biggest crop daddy said he’d ever seen
That Christmas was the first that we could afford
anything more than praising the Lord
Daddy got a suit and mama got a watch
Ray got a shotgun with a handmade stock
I got me a bike and daddy made plans
To expand the farm while the river ran

Daddy burned brush piles late one day
When a car pulled up, license out of state
A man stepped out in a linen suit
With a brown briefcase that matched his boots
Said he had bus’ness to talk about
Opened his checkbook and filled one out
Daddy eyed the numbers and shook his head
Said he’d sell the farm when he was dead
Things might get hard on a stubborn man
but life would move on while the river ran

Down that little river news travelled fast
Other farms sold out down to the last
Word said the comp’ny won water rights
Daddy got worried and mama cried

A thirty acre farm don’t have much clout
When the county’s in debt and somebody helps out
So the next few years were dry and lean
Irrigating with the trickle from that fading stream
Ray quit school to help and worked on a tug
Sent the money home that he didn’t drink up
Mama put up everything we could grow
I helped daddy plant more dusty garden rows
But the shelves stayed full of unsealed cans
The ones we’d emptied while the river ran

One night daddy slipped out with Ray's shotgun
I laughed “daddy are you goin’ to kill someone?”
When he'd gone, I recalled in fear what he'd said
He'd sell the farm when he was dead
so Mama called the sheriff and he came out
He'd check around but he had his doubts
Then we heard a shot somewhere upstream
So the sheriff called out the search dog team
They found his body with a note in hand
Said he shoulda sold out while the river ran

Now twenty years have came and went
And every dime of that blood money’s spent
But I’m still proud my daddy took a stand
Even if life passed us by while the river ran