Daddy Killed the Calf

Daddy Killed the Calf © 2012 Shannon Slaughter/
Mike Bentley / Dale Felts
In Boise City Oklahoma 1934
Black cloud of swirling sand gonna rob the land that gives no more
Hundred acre waves of dust breaking cross the plains
Nowhere to go no one but God knows when it’ll rain

Blue flames on the barbed wire, dancing all around,
We could only watch, as our corn crops lay buried in the ground,
Black rollers kept a coming on each and every day
High and dry, nothing left to try; the farm had blown away

My Daddy was a good plowhand, Mama kept us fed
House and plow, big draft bull and a cow had just been bred

Ol Bull walked miles with Daddy, pulling on the share
When Cow gave birth, it wasn’t worth another mouth for which to care
We were starving, and suffering, needing milk and mighty bad
No time to cry; it was live or die, so Daddy killed the calf
Oh Daddy killed the calf

My Daddy fought the Dust Bowl, lost and headed west
Did what he could, we understood, to give us all the best
You never should say never, what you will do or don’t
Desperate needs cause dreadful deeds; see if you will or won’t