Oh, my driftin' memory goes back to the spring of '43 When I was just a child in momma's arms And daddy plowed the ground and prayed that one day he might leave This run-down mortgaged Oklahoma farm And then one day, I heard my daddy sayin' to my momma That he'd finally saved enough to go As California was his dream, a paradise that he had seen Pictures in magazines that told him so California Cottonfields Where labor camps were filled with weary men with broken dreams California Cottonfields As close to wealth as daddy ever came ♪ And nearly everything we had was sold or left behind From my daddy's belt to the fruit that momma canned Some folks came to say farewell and to see what all we had to sell Some just came to shake my daddy's hand But the model A was loaded down and California bound A change of luck was just four days away But the only change that I remember seeing in my daddy Was when his dark hair turned to silver grey California Cottonfields Where labor camps were filled with weary men with broken dreams California Cottonfields As close to wealth as daddy ever came ♪ Well, the model A was loaded down and California bound A change of luck was just four days away But the only change that I remember seeing in my daddy Was when his dark hair turned to silver grey California Cottonfields Where labor camps were filled with weary men with broken dreams California Cottonfields As close to wealth as daddy ever came