Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)
"Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)" | ||||
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Warner Bros. Nashville | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Rodney Crowell | |||
Producer(s) | Paul Worley | |||
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band singles chronology | ||||
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"Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)" is a song written by
Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.[1]
Content
The song is told through the eyes of the son of a
sharecropper
, who along with his family was forced to work long, hard hours in a cotton field for little pay. Now a grown man, the main protagonist's memories of childhood are mainly pleasant, such as singing songs along with his grandmother's radio, hearing his mother read from the Bible and always having food to eat. However, his dreams take him to a better life:
- "Someday I was dreamin' that a song that I was singin'
- "Takes me down the road to where I want to go.
- "Now I know, it's a long hard road."
Years later, the protagonist has now apparently made it big in his chosen field (perhaps in music, as implied by the lyrics), and has the opportunity to reflect on his childhood. Here, he realizes he didn't have it so bad in the cotton fields and having the warmth and security of his family close by. As he bemoans missing things that marked his childhood โ watching lightning bugs dance in the rain, listening to the raindrops beat on the tin roof of his log cabin home and hearing his parents make music with makeshift instruments โ he is resigned to living out his dream, which he is determined to make come true.
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 249.
- ^ "The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "Hot Country Songs โ Year-End 1984". Billboard. Retrieved June 16, 2021.