Paper Fences

// Copyright 2026 - SeattleSysop This is my land... I wake up 'fore the rooster crows and put the coffee on I got a hundred chores to do before the morning's gone But sitting on the table is that hateful paper stack With another government demand to break a farmer's back They want a permit for the water, a license for the well They're taxing every acre 'til we're living in a cell. (a concrete hell) You built these paper fences so high I cannot see The land my grandpa died for, the dirt that made us free You count the eggs before they hatch, you tithe the air I breathe With your stamps and your inspectors, you're begging us to leave (Yeah, you're begging us to leave) A man came round on Tuesday with a clipboard in his hand He's never held a shovel but he's here to judge my land Said my barn is two feet over onto some imaginary line And if I don't pay the county, then the county takes what's mine They regulate the sunshine, they regulate the rain There's a stamp for every sorrow and a fee for every pain (a fee for every pain) You built these paper fences so high I cannot see The land my grandpa died for, the dirt that made us free You count the eggs before they hatch, you tithe the air I breathe With your stamps and your inspectors, you're begging us to leave (Yeah, you're begging us to leave) I can fight the locusts I can fight the drought I can fight the winter freeze But I can't fight the man who writes the laws, And never bleeds or pleads... (No I can't fight the laws!) You built these paper fences so high I cannot see The land my grandpa died for, the dirt that made us free You count the eggs before they hatch, you tithe the air I breathe With your stamps and your inspectors, you're begging us to leave (let us live) Just begging us to leave... Paper fences... (paper fences)