Highway 29

We moved west of town bought some land and started clearing November, 1944 I'd of rather turned a wrench, but the factory wasn't needing A man who wasn't fit to fight a war The choice I had was harder than the stones that they called soil For a man with a crooked back and a calloused hand I couldn't guess it then, all the changes that were coming We all thought the war would never end But the soldiers soon came home, turned the town into a city I took a wife and all the land that we could buy We couldn't keep up still, it's hard to beat the GI Bill Soon the cranes were filling up our sky Times always changing the way that we're living The rules that we we've made to survive From all that you own, to all you pass on Till your name's on the stone when you die Then Eisenhower said that the way to get ahead Was to make a highway out of all these country lanes So a man came to our place and said they'd planned the interstate And split our fields with imminent domain Still the times were good to me, but the good times they were brief When the only son we had caught sick and died So I laid him down to sleep, 'neath the shade of a pin oak tree, Down the hill I heard the truckers engine whine Times always changing the way that we're living The rules that we we've made to survive From all that you own, to all you pass on Till your name's on the stone when you die I'm an old man now these fields have long forgot the plow There's no one left to keep this farm alive The plot beneath the tree has three more stones and room for me When I return to the dirt that shaped my life Now they're always wanting more, turning two lanes into four It gets closer to the graves every time Will they ever be forgiven? They claim the land is for the living They'll dig 'em up for Highway 29 Times always changing the way that we're living The rules that we we've made to survive From all that you own, to all you pass on Till your name's on the stone when you die