They're Tearin' The Labor Camps Down

I guess it's no secret eh that I did a few years in San Quentin

And on my release I noticed that a lot of different things had come to pass

While I was out of circulation

Like the girls dresses were shorter and the freeways were wider

And the ole steam engines were gone forever

But the one thing I noticed most of all down through the San Joachin valley

Was the disapperance of so many labor camps

Where once I'd lived from time to time myself

I noticed that that one there at Houston California was gone

And the ole crown's camp that lie between Formosa and Bakersfield

Was just a barren spot with a few cottonwood trees

And surrounded by an olive orchard

Tho a few still remain like the ole blackburn's camp out on weepatch highway

It was an evident fact that someone was tryin' to do away with them all

And I couldn't help but wonder what's gonna happen to the farm workers

And the fruit pickers who move from town to town

The man with the big family who can't afford the ole high standard of livin'

And was these thoughts and my mem'ries that inspired me to write this song

I came back to this ole town cause my home was here

And to try to find some things I'd left behind

Tho' I've only been away for just a few short years

But I'd forgot about the pace of modern times

I saw changes all around me and some were good

But I hardly recognized my side of town

They tore down the swingin' casing from the cottowood

And that tree was all that marked familar ground

Oh they're tearin' the labor camps down

And I feel a little sentimental shame

Where's a hungry man gonna live at in this town

Oh they're tearin' the labor camps down

[ piano ]

The Hilltop family market had been moved somewhere

And the name was changed to fit the newer homes

The folks that I remember were no longer there

And the cabin that my daddy built was gone

Oh they're tearin' the labor camps down...

They're tearin' the labor camps down...