The ground grew grey and dead in August The bed lay barren, just crying for rain It's been a bad year for the sweet pea harvest It's been a bad year for the sugar cane It'll all grow back again We've all been led by a promise that the heart can mend He'd wake each day and pray for thunder And carve like lightning down the rows And throw his seeds at dreams and numbers And drink himself like dirt that won't It'll all grow back again We've all been led by a promise that the heart can mend It was a storm last spring that sealed his troubles When Eva left him in an unmade field Now he carries that weight, but he drags his shovel Just waits for the ugly wounds to heal It'll all grow back again We've all been led by a promise that the heart can mend Cause that April day he'd fought the combine Caught by the arm and the combine won Now who's to dance with a one-armed farmer Who's to bandage a one-armed farm That ground grew grey and dead by August The bed lay barren, just crying for rain It's been a bad year for the sweet pea harvest It's been a bad year for the sugar cane