PENNY'S FARM
(learned from a Pete Seeger record, Darlin' Corey in about 1956;.apparently about the exploitation of sharecroppers in South Carolina in the 1920s)
Come you ladies and you gentlemen and listen to my song,
Now you move out to Penny's farm
Then you go out in the fields and you work all day
Now here's George Penny comin' into town
George Penny's renters they will come into town
Down in the pocket with a tremblin' hand
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
I'll sing it to you right but you might think it's wrong
May make you mad but I mean no harm,
It's all about the renters on Penny's farm,
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm.
Plant a little crop of 'bacco and a little crop of corn
Come around and see, you're gonna plip and plop
Till you got yourself a mortgage on everything you got,
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm.
Way after night but you're gettin' no pay,
Promise you meat or a little lard,
It's hard to be a renter on Penny's farm,
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm.
With a wagonload of peaches, not one of 'em sound,
He's got to have money or somebody's check
You pay him for a bushel and you don't get a peck,
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm.
With their hands in their pockets and their heads hung down
Go in the store and the merchant will say
Your mortgage is due and I'm waitin' for my pay,
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm.
Can't pay you all but I'll pay you what I can,
Then to the telephone the merchant made a call,
They'll put you on the chain gang, you won't pay at all,
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm.