California Cotton Fields - 1973 Live Version by Gram Parsons Lyrics

My driftin' mem'ry goes back to the spring of '43 When I was just a child in mama's arms My daddy plowed the ground and prayed that some day we could leave This run down mortgaged Oklahoma farm Then one night I heard my daddy sayin' to my mama That he finally saved enough for us to go California was his dream a paradise wall he had seen Pictures in magazines that told him so California cottonfields Where labor camps were full of worried men with broken dreams California cottonfields was as close to wealth as daddy ever came Almost everything we had was sold or left behind From daddy's plow and the fruit that mama canned Some folks came to say farewell and see what all we had to sell But some just came to shake my daddy's hand The Model A was loaded down and California bound And a change of luck was just four days away But the only change that I remember seeing for my daddy Was when his dark hair had turned to silver gray California cottonfields... California cottonfields...