how can a poor man stand such times and live

 true accounting:
We had a wood cook stove , not running water a out house, we used a wash board and was happy when momma got a a wringer washer, she would wash whites and hang then when the water was dirty we used the rinse water for the next load , we hung our clothes on a old line with a pole, we grew a garden. had chickens. and a pond, We had rain barrles to do this, and would go to town on Saturdays to fill water jugs for the week in a spring. we rode the bus to school. the town was in the Ozarks . this was in the 1960's. We were poor but did not know it. cause every one around us were poor to. We ate deer, rabbit and chicken. we hade come from the flats of Arkansas to the hills, even in the flats we lived off the land, but it was the flood ways, there we had a bath room sink and toilet, we ate fish, frog legs, and turtle and hog. and Sunday Chicken. still poor. We rarely ate beef. we picked cotton and worked in the fields, we came to Michigan in 1966 where life was so strange and different yet we were still poor. we lived in 12 by 16 cabins , worked in the fields had hot plate to cook on, one light four beds in the cabins, and a wash room that the camp would shower in. and out houses. we ate a lot of lunch meats, and worked in the fields. . For me it seam as if we lived three different lives, each had good and bad . but it was our life. We never had a place to call home. when we came to Michigan in 19**, I never left , I married in 19**  and have lived in the same home 35 years. and now life is different. I see so much waste.

 Sometimes, I feel as if I have lived many life's all had happy sad and good and bad times. Sometimes we forget where we came from. But I remember these places in my heart as if it was just yesterday, daddy getting up to get the fire started and us getting around the stove to get warm. The Carbide lights , I can still smell the them they used to go frog hunting. Watching the cruel way the skinned a turtle, our breaking the chickens neck. , but I remember not going so hungry. the commodities daddy would go stand in line for, how different life in the flood ways was , going back into the hills and the food was different deer , rabbit, squirrels my cousins use to fight over eating the brain not me! the coming north food was so different . they way people spoke. was like a whole different world each time.

 how can a poor man stand such times and live

Most preachers, well, they preach for gold and not for soul Well, that's what keeps us poor folks always in a hole
 Now, we can hardly get our breath Taxed and schooled and preached to death
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live ? Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live ?
(G) I remember a time when every (D) thing was (G) cheap Now prices nearly puts a man to (D) sleep (D7) Well, when we (G) get our grocery (G7) bill We (C) feel like making our (Am) will Tell me, (G) how can a poor man (D7) stand such times and (G) live ? Tell me, (G) how can a poor man (D7) stand such times and (G) live ?
Well, the doctor comes around with his face all bright And he says, "In a little while you'll be all right!" Well, all he gives is a humbug pill Dose of dope and a great big bill Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live ? Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live