Mom and daddy were great believers in the virtue of hard work
Up and down that piece of farmland that kept their hands in dirt
It's a hard education when your cradle is a cotton row
And early on, I was well acquainted with the working end of a hoe
It was in my 16th summer and I was wearing out on school
Daddy knew I was just a smart boy with less sense than a mule
But he knew in his wisdom I would gain some self-control
If I toured the lower 40 on the working end of a hoe
My shoulders ached, my neck was baked and cotton was on my tongue
A three week war on crabgrass and the war had just begun
Summer tan, blistered hands, there I came to know
That many a mind was opened on the working end of a hoe
Now, the rate of a high school dropout is a thought that mortifies
But hanging in the local hardware store for 14.95
Is an almighty answer these hearts would undergo
If they had to spend a good hot summer on the working end of a hoe
Where the shoulders ache, the neck is baked and cotton is on the tongue
The war on weeds and crabgrass is a war that's just begun
Summer tan, blistered hands and all would come to know
That many a mind is opened on the working end of a hoe
Summer tan, blistered hands and all would come to know
That many a mind is opened on the working end of a hoe
