Darkness hangin' in the sky in the morn
Moonlight dyin' as the sun is reborn
Crops are swayin' in an island of green
Hemp and teth and corn in between
Cut her low
Swing her 'round
Iron wire tightly bound
Thrashed to death by the morning lark
Lie in her arms in the still of dark
Laddie, are you workin'?
Sunlight shinin' on the heart of the land
Crops are bendin' to the part nature planned
Who'd be thinkin' that they'd end from that start
Cut and ripped and shredded apart?
Cut her low
Swing her 'round
Iron wire tightly bound
Thrashed to death by the morning lark
Lie in her arms in the still of dark
Laddie, are you workin'?
Stormclouds gather as the hands to the field
Raindrops scatter as the land's made to yield
Body's separate from its fine, golden head
Stalk and sheath and chafe for a bed
Cut her low
Swing her 'round
Iron wire tightly bound
Thrashed to death by the morning lark
Lie in her arms in the still of dark
Laddie, are you workin'?
Stars are twinklin' and the moon's risin' high
Dark is waitin' for the sunlight to die
Memories harken to the Emerald Isle
Sing and sleep and dream for a while
Cut her low
Swing her 'round
Iron wire tightly bound
Thrashed to death by the morning lark
Lie in her arms in the still of dark
Laddie, are you workin'?
Cut us low
Swing us 'round
Iron shackles tightly bound
Thrash your soul by the morning lark
Lie with your dreams in the dead of dark
Laddie, are you workin'?