Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat Songtext

von Pete Seeger

Seven cent cotton an' a forty cent meat
How in the world can a poor man eat?
Flour up high and cotton down low
How in the world can we raise the dough?
Clothes worn out, shoes run down
Ol' slouch hat with a hole in the crown
Back nearly broken and fingers all sore
Cotton gone down to rise no more

Seven cent cotton an' eight dollar pants
Who in the world has got a chance?
We can't buy clothes, we can't buy meat
Too much cotton and not enough to eat
Can't help each other, what'll we do?
I can't explain it so it's up to you
Seven cent cotton and two dollar hose
Guess we'll have to do without any clothes

Seven cotton an' a forty meat
How in the world can a poor man eat?
Mules in the barn no crop laid by
Corn crib's empty and the cow's gone dry
Well water low, nearly outta sight
Can't take a bath on a Saturday night
No use talkin', any man is beat
With seven cent cotton an' a forty cent meat

Seven cent cotton an' a forty cent meat
How in the world can a poor man eat?
Poor are gettin' poorer all around here
Kids comin' regular every year
Fatten our harvest, take into town
All we get is six cents a pound
Very next day we have to buy it back
Forty cents a pound in a paper sack