Come you ladies and you gentlemen and listen to my song
I'll sing it to you right but you might think it's wrong
May make you mad but I mean no harm
It's all about the renters on Penny's farm
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm

Now you move out to Penny's farm
Plant a little crop of 'bacco and a little crop of corn
Come around and see, you're gonna plip and plop
Till you got yourself a mortgage on everything you got
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm

Then you go out in the fields and you work all day
Way after night but you're gettin' no pay
Promise you meat or a little lard
It's hard to be a renter on Penny's farm
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm

Now here's George Penny comin' into town
With a wagonload of peaches, not one of 'em sound
He's got to have money or somebody's check
You pay him for a bushel and you don't get a peck
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm

Now,George Penny's renters they will come into town
With their hands in their pockets and their heads hung down
Go in the store and the merchant will say
Your mortgage is due and I'm waitin' for my pay
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm
Slow down in the pocket with a tremblin' hand
Can't pay you all but I'll pay you what I can
Then to the telephone the merchant made a call
They'll put you on the chain gang, you won't pay at all
Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm

Hard times in the country, down on Penny's farm