I’ve Got Work To Do (Ballad of Hall’s Red and White Super Market)

From the Album Here I Stand: Elder’s Wisdom; Children’s Song (Smithsonian Folkways)

Fifty years ago, my dad
Bought a store downtown
Times were much different
Then they are now
Sold a lot of chickens
Mother’s Best Flour sacks
That came and went
like the trains that roll
Down the railroad tracks

There wasn’t much time
To play outside
Had a job to do
Hauling feed
Shelves to clean
I’ve got work to do

Sugar, meal, and flour
In four truckloads
Out in the country
Drove to the farmers homes
Two yards of clothing
For one hundred pounds
Of feed we would
leave by the truckload
Then head back to town

There wasn’t much time
To play outside
Had a job to do
Hauling feed
Shelves to clean
I’ve got work to do

Once a year we put on
A great big show
With country gospel music
Played on the radio
Five pounds of flour
We gave away
While the people would cut a step
When the music played

There wasn’t much time
To play outside
Had a job to do
Hauling feed
Shelves to clean
I’ve got work to do

To care for the people
Is my stock and trade
Honesty and love
Works sixteen-hour days
Everything changes
But that’s alright
From Farmers Feed & Supply
To Hall’s Red & White

There wasn’t much time
To play outside
Had a job to do
Hauling feed
Shelves to clean
I’ve got work to do

Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 1996 | BMI

*Lyrics collectively written by Larry Long with youth from rural Wadley, Alabama through the Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song program in partnership with PACERS Small Schools Cooperative and Community Celebration of Place. Inspired by Jerry Hall.

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Here I Stand: Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song is exclusively available on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

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