Leon McDuff

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury
I come before you to plead for the life of Leon McDuff
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury
I'm asking you to be the judge of when enough is enough

Now Leon McDuff worked on his daddy's farm
Everyday since the day that he was born
Plowin' in the field and hoeing in the garden
And helping to pick the cotton and the corn
Then came time of Mississippi floods
When all of his work went down the drain
His land was parched by sun, blown by the wind
And finally washed away by the rain
So Leon went to his friends trying to get help from them
But their crops and their money all were gone
So Leon went to the bank trying to mortgage his home
But the banks wouldn't give Leon a loan
Could not decide how his family could survive
With no crop and no money to buy food
And as he struggled with his hands trying to rework his land
A notice came and said your land tax is due

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury
I come before you to plead for the life of Leon McDuff

In an air conditioned office on the other side of town
There sat a government official with a frown
Seems he been trying all week long
To find land to build his summer home but
Cheap river land could not be found
And in the middle of his gloom
His boss walked in the room
He said I got some real good news for the house you planned
See there's a farmer who's so poor
And who's luck has gone so sour
He'll never pay the taxes on his land
So you just wait a week or two
Until the moneys overdue
Then go to the cashier down the hall
Hold this deed in your hand pay the taxes on his land
And have the sheriff give Leon McDuff a call
And you can tell Leon to move by the last day of July
Cause his taxes on his land are overdue
Tell him he's gotta move away
Cause his taxes were not paid
And then all that river land belongs to you

Same air conditioned office in about a week or two
Here comes the sheriff saying I got bad news
That old Leon McDuff knows he's had bad luck
He says he'll try to get the money but he wont move
Well that bureaucrat jumped up and grabbed the sheriff by the arm
He says we're going out to take his land today
And so he and the sheriff drove on out to Leon's farm
To tell the McDuff's to move away
There stood Leon on his land with a shotgun in his hand
And his eyes they were narrow beneath the brim of his hat
He said I've worked hard on this land
As a boy and as a man
And I'll lose it now to no damn bureaucrat
Well that bureaucrat got mad
And he grabbed the gun in Leon's hand
And in the struggle an explosion cracked the air
And when the smoke and dust had cleared
And the ringing left their ears
The sheriff he lay dying on the ground
The sheriff he lay dying on the ground

Now on this table I will lay this here gun exhibit A
And there's two sets of fingerprints you can't even see
Other hands were here none perceived by eye to ear
To help trigger off this morbid tragedy
And now to me its still unclear
What really caused the problem here
There's just too much you got to know before you know enough
And no we can't find out today
Just where all the guilt should lay
It shouldn't be on Leon McDuff

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury
I come before you to plead for the life of Leon McDuff
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury
I'm asking you to be the judge of when enough
Is enough
It's just about enough