Fred Eaglesmith
Sunflowers
Well there's cars in the driveway as you turn into the yard
The casket's in the living room
You look away and swallow hard
Someone hands you a bottle
And you don't know who they are
Funny, how you used to know everybody in these parts
And you hardly knew the dead man
Though you spoke a time or to
And he had a wife and two small children
And he lived just like you do
And he died on his tractor
Holding his end down
Forty acres left to plant
And forty in the ground
But he never had a chance
It's what they're saying now
The bank was going to walk in any day, anyhow
And it makes you kind of wonder
As you watch the daylight burn
Wonder if he knew it
Wonder if he'd heard
She's got a crooked smile
And there's dark around her eyes
She says she knows she's got to get on with her life
And you stand off alone
And look to where the sun sets
Someone says we ain't seen the last of it yet
And he died on his tractor
Holding his end down
Forty acres left to plant
And forty in the ground
And he never had a chance
That's what they're saying now
The bank was going to walk in any day, anyhow
And it makes you kind of wonder
As you watch the daylight burn
Wonder if he knew it
Wonder if he'd heard
There's a crop of yellow sunflowers
In the field across the way
Makes you sorta grin
As you're coming down the lane
Three hundred bucks a ton
It's what they said at plantin' time
But when it comes to harvest
It wasn't worth a dime