Marcia Ball - This Used To Be Paradise lyrics

My grandaddy was a fisherman Lived on the water more than the land He could tell the seasons by the turn of the tide I grew up right by his side He was a proud cajun and he worked real hard The atchafalaya basin was his front yard I can hear him saying with a tear in his eye This used to be paradise This used to be paradise Brown pelicans and sac au lait Big salty oysters and alligators So many fish they would jump in your boat Throw in a line and that's all she wrote We had a little house on high ground Cypress trees all around Good living, peace and quiet This used to be paradise This used to be paradise Then one day the oil man came He gave us jobs and everything changed We still run our boats and we drag our nets But every day we get less and less and less I guess you can't stop the way that time goes by But I can't think of any reason why They had to come and take our way of life Now we don't know if we can even survive They took the very land our house was on And the shrimp and the pelicans, they're just hanging on It's a damned shame to make an old man cry This used to be paradise This used to be paradise This used to be paradise This used to be paradise My grandaddy was a fisherman