Standard (EADGBE)

Intro

John Svenson was a farmer

He grew the Minnesota wheat

He rode there with his daughter

High upon the thresher's seat

They broke down on the hillside

The radiator spitting steam

Went back to get the tool box

So they could fix the old machine

With a turn of the wrench, and a twist of the screw

We can fix the tractor, we can make it like new

But that day they got a letter

That said the power lines would come

Right across their farmland

Right across the setting sun

So they gathered all the family

And talked late into the night

We cannot let them do this

We've got to put up one hell of a fight

With a turn of the wrench, and a twist of the screw

We'll apply a little pressure, and we'll see what that will do

So they phoned one hundred farmers

And drove to the Twin Cities

Met there with the Governor

And they sued the utility

But after writing all the letters

And paying all the legal costs

To the power of the city

Once again the farmers lost

And in the still of the evening the wind is all you hear

I watch the waves on the wheat fields a lone

I walk the furrows of earth I plant year after year

This is our land this is our home

So they met there at the tavern

But there wasn't much to say

The power lines may come, but they will not stay

With a turn of the wrench, and a twist of the screw

What was once put together, we can easily undo

With bandannas on their faces

Careful not to make sound

They loosened all the bolts

That held the towers to the ground

And several weeks later, with nobody around

The Minnesota wind blew tower after tower after tower down

With a turn of the wrench, and a twist of the screw

What was once put together, we can easily undo

And in the still of the evening the wind is all you hear

I watch the waves on the wheat fields alone

I walk the furrows of earth I plant year after year

This is our land this is our home