Barrel Of Rain

Her pride and his joy was raven black

It ran like a river of silk down her back

She brushed it every morning one hundred times

And he washed it for her on Saturday nights

Then drought struck the heartland in 1935

They didn't have water for Saturday nights

It all seemed so hopeless so she cut it with the shears

And he held her close and said through her tears

I'll build you a barrel to catch the rain

To wash out the dust of the Kansas plain

I swear you'll never have to cut your hair again

If it's the last thing I do on this earthly plane

I'll give you a barrel of rain

So he worked in the evenings when he finished up the chores

Cut out some staves from a chest of drawers

He bound them with leather, sealed them with tar

Then he got to his knees and prayed in the yard

I've built this barrel to catch the rain

To wash out the dust of the Kansas plain

If you give me this, Lord, I'll never ask for nothing again

Just a little thundercloud now and then

To give her a barrel of rain

But the rain never came, the barrel sat dry

She watched as the truth of it ate him alive

Then God took the crops, and the bank took back the land

When his spirit broke, he just folded his hands

As the sun beat down on his thirsty grave

She thought of the fields that he plowed in vain

She screamed at the sky with all her rage and pain

He didn't want much and he never complained

Dear God, he just wanted a barrel of rain

Her pride and his joy is now white as milk

And it runs down her back like a river of silk

All that she brought to these Oregon shores

Was a barrel made out of an old chest of drawers

The neighbors all whisper that she's insane

The way that she stares at the driving rain

And waits for the gutters to fill it up again

Then on Saturday nights when the sky is tame

She washes her hair in a barrel of rain