Cotton's All We Got

My family grew cotton
Cotton was all we knew
Butter came from butterbeans
And it all went in a stew
We lived off our victory garden
And the neighbours did so too
Some years the dust was so ruthless
The cotton was all we grew

When there's no more cane on the grasses
And the oil is gone in the gulf
When the wells are dry on the flatlands
Cotton's all we got

In the days before the powerlines
when LBJ taught school
We dreamed of a fairer nation
And promised to change the rules
To build a great society
And all the folks in the same room
Fighting a war on poverty
And taking us to the moon

When there's no more cane on the grasses
And the oil is gone in the gulf
When the wells are dry on the flatlands
Cotton's all we got

Then the wind will feed the powerlines
Where once it was dust that blew
All along the Chisholm trail
Cotton's all we knew

When there's no more cane on the grasses
And the oil is gone in the gulf
When the wells are dry on the flatlands
Cotton's all we got