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I drag a nine foot sack
like a ball and chain
Though it’s blistering hot
I don’t pray for rain
Should a rain come
I could never forget
I may be a free man
But enslaved by debt
I may be a free man
But enslaved by debt
I got a little chunk of land
Can’t plant nothin’ to eat
I gotta fill it full of cotton
For my quota to meet
Pay my debts
From the year before
Ahead by a ‘Jefferson’
But not much more
Ahead by a ‘Jefferson’
But not much more
They say I’m a good boy
but I’m a man
Providin’ for my family
The best what I can
Blood and sweat
And a sunburnt back
I’m draggin’ my hopes
in this nine foot sack
Draggin’ my hopes
in this nine foot sack
Sharecropping was just another form of slavery. The landowner would rent them a shack, and he also had the general store where the tenant could get food on credit against the future earnings from the cotton crop. The sack that held the picked cotton was nine feet long. It can also be surprisingly difficult to pick cotton just right. The average cotton plant is less than three feet high, so many workers had to stoop to pick the cotton. People who were too aggressive might end up grabbing leaves and the sharp parts of the boll along with the fiber. But being too timid meant that you would only grab small bits of cotton, leaving the rest behind on the plant. It was brutal, hard work that paid very little. Strangely, when all was tallied at the end of the season, the balance of debt versus profit came out just about even. No way to get ahead or improve their life.
