Merle Haggard

We got up before sunup to get the work done up,
We'd work in the fields till the sun had gone down.
We've stood and we cried as we helplessly watched,
A hail store a beating our crops to the ground.
And I've gone to bed hungry many nights as a lad,
In the good old days, when times were bad.
I've seen daddy's hands break open and bleed,
I've seen him work till he's stiff as a board.
I've seen momma lay and suffer in sickness,
In need of a doctor we couldn't afford.
Anything at all was more than we had,
In the good old days, when times were bad.
No amount of money could buy from me,
The memories that I have of then.
No amount of money could pay me,
To go back and live through it again.
We got up before and found ice on the floor,
Where wind blew snow through the cracks in the walls.
And I've walked many miles to an old country school,
With my lunch in the bib of my overalls.
Anything at all was more than we had,
In the good old days, when times were bad.
No amount of money could buy from me,
The memories that I have of then.
No amount of money could pay me,
To go back and live through it again.