Merle Haggard - They're Tearin' The Labor Camps Down lyrics

[Spoken:] I guess it's no secret eh that I did a few years in San Quentin And on my release I noticed that a lot of different things had come to pa** While I was out of circulation Like the girls dresses were shorter and the freeways were wider And the ole steam engines were gone forever But the one thing I noticed most of all down through the San Joachin valley Was the disapperance of so many labor camps Where once I'd lived from time to time myself I noticed that that one there at Houston California was gone And the ole crown's camp that lie between Formosa and Bakersfield Was just a barren spot with a few cottonwood trees And surrounded by an olive orchard Tho a few still remain like the ole blackburn's camp out on weepatch highway It was an evident fact that someone was tryin' to do away with them all And I couldn't help but wonder what's gonna happen to the farm workers And the fruit pickers who move from town to town The man with the big family who can't afford the ole high standard of livin' And was these thoughts and my mem'ries that inspired me to write this song [Sang:] I came back to this ole town cause my home was here And to try to find some things I'd left behind Tho' I've only been away for just a few short years But I'd forgot about the pace of modern times. I saw changes all around me and some were good But I hardly recognized my side of town They tore down the swingin' casing from the cottowood And that tree was all that marked familar ground. Oh, they're tearin' the labor camps down And I feel a little sentimental shame Where's a hungry man gonna live at in this town Oh, they're tearin' the labor camps down. [Instrumental] The Hilltop family market had been moved somewhere And the name was changed to fit the newer homes The folks that I remember were no longer there And the cabin that my daddy built was gone. Oh, they're tearin' the labor camps down And I feel a little sentimental shame Where's a hungry man gonna live at in this town Oh, they're tearin' the labor camps down. They're tearin' the labor camps down And I feel a little sentimental shame Where's a hungry man gonna live at in this town Oh, they're tearin' the labor camps down...