Pickin’ Time Johnny Cash
I got cotton in the bottom land
It’s up and growin’ and I got a good stand
My good wife and them kids of mine
Gonna get new shoes, come pickin’ time
Get new shoes come pickin’ time
Ev’ry night when I go to bed
I thank the Lord that my kids are fed
They live on beans eight days and nine
But I get ’em fat come pickin’ time
Get ’em fat come come pickin’ time
The corn is yellow and the beans are high
The sun is hot in the summer sky
The work is hard til layin’ by
Layin’ by til pickin’ time
Layin’ by til pickin’ time
It’s hard to see by the coal-oil light
And I turn it off purty early at night
‘Cause a jug of coal-oil costs a dime
But I stay up late come pickin’ time
Stay up late come pickin’ time
My old wagon barely gets me to town
I patched the wheels and I watered ’em down
Keep her in shape so she’ll be fine
To haul my cotton come pickin’ time
Haul my cotton come pickin’ time
Last Sunday mornin’ when they passed the hat
It was still nearly empty back where I sat
But the preacher smiled and said that’s fine
The Lord’ll wait til pickin’ time
The Lord’ll wait til pickin’ time
Songwriter: Johnny R. Cash
Pickin’ Time lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
Analysis of Johnny Cash’s Pickin’ Time and How it
Johnny Cash, the Man In Black, is an interesting and compelling song writer, he was able to capture emotions and take snapshots of American society, focusing on the last seven decades of the 20th Century. Interestingly Johnny cash had taken several sociological views regarding to the nature of society: sometimes he voiced a functionalist view, a symbolic interactionist and sometimes a conflict theorist. He believed in compassion and fairness, yet hard work, achievement and merit that a interactionist would attribute hard work; observed the oppression of the government and big business over the poor and Cash would simply comment on the functions of various segments and strata of society. Cash is widely known if not only by name but also for penning over a dozen, cross genre songs about often largely politics and socio-economic situations of poor, underrepresented people.
In this song “Pickin’ Time” Cash narrates his childhood experiences picking cotton. This song goes far to describe those who live in “fly over country.” Poor, lower class, white people who tend to vote republican, are somewhat represented by this song. Cash sings about having to wait until “pickin’ time” comes around to be able to afford new shoes for his family. What does this tell us? Cash is taking up the capitalistic cause, even though it is implied that his family and community do not have a lot of money:
Last Sunday mornin’ when they passed the hat
It was still nearly empty back where I sat
But the preacher smiled and said that’s fine
The Lord’ll wait til pickin’ time
The Lord’ll wait til pickin’ time
Cash goes on to say that he is going to be OK, he believes in the free market; when he sells his cotton the money will come in and all will be well. Furthermore, even though the family would probably considered poor, he takes it upon himself to feed his family, not relying on the state to produce food:
Ev’ry night when I go to bed
I thank the Lord that my kids are fed
They live on beans eight days and nine
But I get ’em fat come pickin’ time
Get ’em fat come come pickin’ time
This is clearly a reference to point out that although they partake at least in part in sustenance farming, the family is well fed, and taken care of. Cash is able to work the land so he is self-sufficient: autarkic. Cash mentions that although they are eating beans all the time, as a result of his hard work and determination there is plenty more beans in the field and the corn is ripe. The idea that Cash is completely self reliant is the description of his wagon that he uses to transport his cotton to the market:
My old wagon barely gets me to town
I patched the wheels and I watered ’em down
Keep her in shape so she’ll be fine
To haul my cotton come pickin’ time
Haul my cotton come pickin’ time
Cash maintains his own wagon, keeps it in shape, takes care of it, even though it is in poor condition, he takes pride in what he has. This is an important point as often those who have something that is falling apart, many people, even poor, are not willing in todays society to take pride in what little they have. Cash knows that this old wagon keeps his family going as it transports the valuable cotton; this also illustrates a large difference in social views of many today to those who grew up during the Great Depression. A famous expression that could be a mantra or motto for those who lived through the Great Depression: “Use it up, wear it out, or do without.”
Interestingly, Johnny Cash was always a proponent of the poor and beaten down, however he also believed in taking pride the country, in what you have in material goods, and the importance of hard work. These are all the typical hall marks of those who voted for the Republican ticket in the last 25 or 30 years. Cash’s song, Pickin’ Cotton, represents, in a simple way, the lives that millions of people in the Midwest live or have lived. They do not look necessarily to the state for help but to their own sweat and hard work. This song is a sort of Anti-conflict theorist song. It clearly shows that where we are in life is the sum of our works; Cash makes no mention of how there is a conspiring ring of capitalist fat cats to hold down the poor farmer.
Breakdown - Socio-Political Commentary 