[Verse 1]
My hands are as cracked as an August field
That's burned in the sun for a hundred years
Furrows so deep you could hide yourself
I ain't planting cotton no more this year
I'll just sit on the porch with my eagle eye
Watch for a change in the wind
Rows are as straight as a shotgun barrel
Long as a bullet can spin

[Chorus]
You know how hot it gets in Mississippi
You know how dry it gets in the summer sun
The dust clouds swirl all down the Delta
I just hope that I don't die before the harvest comes

[Verse 2]
Black clouds gathering at the edge of town
But no rain's gonna fall on us
Hoes rise and fall in a distant field
Earth takes a beating for all of us
I thought I heard the Angel of Death overhead
But it was only the cropduster's plane
Hoes rise and fall like the beating of wings
Lord, send us freedom and rain
[Chorus]
You know how hot it gets in Mississippi
You know how dry it gets in the summer sun
The dust clouds swirl all down the Delta
I just hope that I don't die
Hope that I don't die before the harvest comes