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Ladies and gentlemen of the jury |
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I come before you to plead for the life of Leon McDuff |
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Ladies and gentlemen on the jury |
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I asking you to be the judge of when enough is enough |
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Now Leon McDuff has worked on his daddy's farm everyday since the day that he was born |
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Plowing in the fields and hoeing in the garden and helping pick the cotton and the corn |
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Then came the time of the Mississippi floods and all of his work went down the drain |
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The land was parched by the sun and blown by the wind and finally washed away by the rain |
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So he went to his friends to get some help from them but their crops and their money was all gone |
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So he went to the bank to mortgage his home but the bank wouldn't give Leon a loan |
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He could not decide how his family would survive with no crops and no money to buy food |
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And as he struggled with his hands to rework his land the notice came that said his land tax was due |
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Now Leon McDuff has worked on his daddy's farm everyday since the day that he was born |
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Plowing in the fields and hoeing in the garden and helping pick the cotton and the corn |
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Then came the time of the Mississippi floods and all of his work went down the drain |
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The land was parched by the sun and blown by the wind and finally washed away by the rain |
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Now in an air-conditioned office on the other side of town sat a government official with a frown |
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'Cause he'd been trying for so long to find land to build a summer home but cheap river land could not be found |
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Then in the middle of his gloom his boss walked in the room and said I've got some real good news for the house you've planned |
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There's a farmer who's so poor and who's luck has run so sour that he can not pay the taxes on his land |
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So just you wait a week or two 'til the money's over due then go to the cashier down the hall |
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With his deed in your hand pay the taxes on the land have the sheriff give Leon McDuff a call |
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Have him tell Leon to move by the last day of July because the taxes on his land are overdue |
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Tell him he has to move away 'cause the taxes were not paid then all his river land belongs to you |
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Now Leon McDuff has worked on his daddy's farm everyday since the day that he was born |
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Plowing in the fields and hoeing in the garden and helping pick the cotton and the corn |
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Then came the time of the Mississippi floods and all of his work went down the drain |
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The land was parched by the sun and blown by the wind and finally washed away by the rain |
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Now in that air-conditioned office in about a week or two came the sheriff saying I've got some bad news |
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That Leon McDuff says he's had some bad luck and he'll try to get the money but he aint agonna' move |
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That official he jumped up and grabbed the sheriff by the arm he said we're going down to take that land today |
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So he and the sheriff drove down to Leon's farm to tell the McDuffs to move away |
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There stood Leon on his land with a shotgun in his hand, his eyes narrowed 'neath the brim of his hat |
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He said "I've worked hard on this land as a boy and as a man I aint gonna lose it to no god damned bureaucrat." |
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Well that bureaucrat got mad and grabbed the gun in Leon's hand and in the struggle an explosion cracked the air |
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And when the smoke and dust had cleared and the ringing left their ears, the sheriff lay a dying on the ground |
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Now Leon McDuff has worked on his daddy's farm everyday since the day that he was born |
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Plowing in the fields and hoeing in the garden and helping pick the cotton and the corn |
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Then came the time of the Mississippi floods and all of his work went down the drain |
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The land was parched by the sun and blown by the wind and finally washed away by the rain |
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Now on this table I will lay, this gun "Exhibit A" with two sets of fingerprints as you can see |
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But other hands were here unperceived by eye or ear that helped trigger off this awful tragedy |
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Now to me its still unclear just what really caused the problem here |
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There's much too much we've got to know before we know enough |
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So we can't find out today where all the guilt should lay but it shouldn't be on Leon McDuff |
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Chorus |