Levon Helm - Growing Trade lyrics

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 To many seasons of calamity And too much interest on a loan I'm half the size that I used to be And half of that is gone The crops ain't worth the seeding Timber only gets you fire The last hog I was feeding I can hardly keep him alive I got to do what I can to survive I know the law won't be forgiving But that will 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 you'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 A shotgun on my shoulder Where a tow sack ought to be The thieves are getting bolder And the feds may be wise to me I got to quit this eventually. I know the law won't be forgiving But that will be the choice I made I used to farm for a living And now I'm in the growing trade Hell, the copters and the distance? Coming closer every day. There gonna meet some resistance Ain't no price too rich to pay. There won't be any business When they take it all away. Between the cop in the jailhouse 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 will be the choice I made I used to farm for a living And now I'm in the growing trade I used to farm for a living And now I'm in the growing trade