California Cottonfields

Oh, my driftin' memory goes back to the spring of '43
When I was just a child in momma's arms
And daddy plowed the ground and prayed that one day he might leave
This run-down mortgaged Oklahoma farm

And then one day, I heard my daddy sayin' to my momma
That he'd finally saved enough to go
As California was his dream, a paradise that he had seen
Pictures in magazines that told him so

California Cottonfields
Where labor camps were filled with weary men with broken dreams
California Cottonfields
As close to wealth as daddy ever came

And nearly everything we had was sold or left behind
From my daddy's belt to the fruit that momma canned
Some folks came to say farewell and to see what all we had to sell
Some just came to shake my daddy's hand

But the model A was loaded down and California bound
A change of luck was just four days away
But the only change that I remember seeing in my daddy
Was when his dark hair turned to silver grey

California Cottonfields
Where labor camps were filled with weary men with broken dreams
California Cottonfields
As close to wealth as daddy ever came

Well, the model A was loaded down and California bound
A change of luck was just four days away
But the only change that I remember seeing in my daddy
Was when his dark hair turned to silver grey

California Cottonfields
Where labor camps were filled with weary men with broken dreams
California Cottonfields
As close to wealth as daddy ever came