"They're only half-mile rows, son And there's water at the end" Oh, Mama, wish I could be In those cotton fields again A man will make a living Doing what he has to do And Mama, that's just what you did When he left it up to you Well, you loved that old dirt farmer A man I've never known And alone you shared your wisdom In those half-mile cotton rows You talked of Corpus Christi And the beach where you were raised And the gulf stream's salty breezes Almost touched my childhood face 'Cause I could hear those breakers crashing 'Way up on the high, dry plains As we hoed those fields of cotton Up one row, and down again And I can still hear you saying (Chorus) "They're only half-mile rows, son And there's water at the end" Oh Mama, wish I could be In those cotton fields again I'm staring out my window At the salty side of town Stone fences in this city, Mama They can get a farm boy down And it's surprising how those neon lights They can make the wild weeds grow But I can work my way back home, Mom It's just one more half-mile row (Repeat chorus, tag) Copyright, Brooks Bros Publishers All rights reserved Writer: Jake Brooks Management: Nashville Music Group Performed by Jake Brooks & The Hired Hands On "Songs of the Soil", released on Red Barn Records 1989, and re-released on CD Baby 2014