"The Workin' End Of A Hoe" lyrics

My daddy was a great believer in the virtue of hard work
Up and down that piece of farmland that kept his hands in dirt
Well, it's a hard education when your cradle is a cotton row
And early on I was well acquainted with the workin' end of a hoe

It was in my 16th summer and I was wearing out old school
Well, daddy knew I was just a fat boy with less sense than a mule
Well, He knew in his wisdom well I would gain some self-control
If I toured the lower 40 on the workin' end of a hoe

My shoulders ache
My neck was baked
And cotton was on my tongue
A three-week war on crabgrass and the war had just begun
Summer tan, blistered hands, there I came to know
That many a mind was opened on the workin' end of a hoe

Now, the rate of a high school dropout is a thought that mortifies
But hanging in the local hardware store for 14.95
Is an almighty answer these hearts would undergo
If they had to spend a long hot summer on the workin' end of a hoe

Well, the shoulders ache
My neck was baked
And cotton was on my tongue
The war on weeds and crabgrass is a war that's just begun
Summer tan, blistered hands and all would come to know
That many a mind is opened on the workin' end of a hoe
Summer tan, blistered hands and all would come to know
That many a mind is opened on the workin' end of a hoe

Summer tan
Blistered hands
And there I came to know
That many a mind is opened on the workin' end of a hoe