Lyrics Tom Paxton – Who Will Feed The People?

It’s all pages in a mystery
That he’ll never understand
Tell me, who will feed the people
If they put me off my land
If they call in all my loans
If they call the auctioneer
Tell me, who will bring the crops in
With no farm folks living here
Will the banker run the combine
Will the agent bale the hay
Tell me, who will feed the people
If they take my farm away
When my great-granddaddy Jakob
Ninety-seven years ago
Broke this sod behind two oxen
Broke his back to make it grow
Taught his sons by his example
As they taught their sons in turn
What this topsoil had to teach him
Great-granddaddy tried to learn
If they put us on the road
If they tell us we must go
Who will come to take our places
Who’ll know half the things we know
Who’ll know every inch of topsoil
As it trickles through the hand

Tell me, who will feed the people
If they put me off my land
When my great-granddaddy Jakob
Ninety-seven years ago
Broke this sod behind two oxen
Broke his back to make it grow
Taught his sons by his example
As they taught their sons in turn
What this topsoil had to teach him
Great-granddaddy tried to learn
If they take away my farm
If they pull me off the plough
Tell me, who will feed the people
Hell, the banker don’t know how
It’s all pages in a mystery
That he’ll never understand
Tell me, who will feed the people
If they put me off my land
It’s all pages in a mystery
That he’ll never understand
Tell me, who would feed the people
If they put me off my land