Hardscrabble (Live)

Hard-scrabble, dirt, dust and gravel
Got a willingness to travel to the other side
God-fearing, faithful to my rearin'
Mountains are my home. Borders don't apply

Welcome back!
It's joseph berard!

Hey! Now you can salt your lard
Come and get it
They're going quick

It tastes like a brick

You'd have to be a sucker to pay more for rice
'Cuz just over the mountain i can get it half-price
Today, rice and salt
Tomorrow bigger plans
I'm moving out of piedmont soon as i get the chance

Hard-scrabble, dirt, dust and gravel
Got a willingness to travel to the other side
God-fearing, faithful to my rearin'
Mountains are my home. borders don't apply

So the smuggler's back home for a change

Not smuggling, sis. cross-border exchange

While you were off getting scratches and scrapes
Crossing the border to wherever you went
I mended some shirts, planted some grapes
Just a little thing called paying rent

Our soil is rocky
Nothing will grow there

The mountain is rocky
You'll die if you go there

Do you remember winter 1835?

No

It was a fight to survive
Winter starts to freeze us, your dad needs to feed us
Jesus, he up and leaves us, climbs this very trail
Thinking 'bout you each step that he takes
But he's slowing

Shaky

Hungry

Weak

Things are looking dire, might not make it any higher
He's about to expire before reaching the peak

But then!
Motherlode of all smuggling routes
Just across the border, lotsa game to shoot

By the time he gets back, he is covered in frost
Saving our lives but it comes at a cost

Three fingers, only three fingers
He got only three fingers on his right hand

Say what?

Three fingers, only three fingers
He got only three fingers on his right hand

Whoah!

Fathers' secret passage makes money. it's an asset
When he passed, he pass it along to us kids
Smuggling ain't easy. dad's life was hard

But we use what we're given to eke out a living
That's what it means to be a berard
Hard-scrabble, dirt, dust and gravel
Got a willingness to travel to the other side
God-fearing, faithful to my rearin'
Mountains are my home. borders don't apply

Hard-scrabble, dirt, dust and gravel
Got a willingness to travel to the other side
God-fearing, faithful to my rearing
Mountains are my home
Borders don't apply