HEARTLAND
(Steve Gillette and Rex Benson)
Here, in the heart of the nation.
I'm just a man whose made a promise he can't keep
I've been workin' every sunrise,
But it's too late, I'm in too deep.
This farm is my home it's my birthright
It's the only life I know.
I've worked this land with all the love in these hands
And I can't just let it go.
But in the heartland,
There's a man who holds the paper on my soul.
There's a circumstance that's out of my control.
And the thunder and the winds begin to roll.
In the heartland,
In the light before the darkness falls.
Revelations in those marbled halls,
Where they've traded away my home,
Where they've taken away my home.
What does it profit a man,
To gain the world and lose the seed?
To see the innocent land
Become the servant of their greed.
And I know I'm not alone,
There's a woman who knew me when my prayers were younger.
And children, ashamed of their hunger.
And others, family farmers like my own,
Up late tonight in the heartland.
And in the heartland,
There's a man who holds the paper on my soul.
There's a circumstance that's out of my control
And the thunder and the winds begin to roll.
In the heartland,
In the light before the darkness falls.
Recriminations in those distant halls
Where they've traded away our home,
Where they've taken away our home.
Copyright 1990, Foreshadow Music, BMI / Jesse Erin Music, ASCAP
Used by permission