Ol’ Jack

They used to work mighty hard on the old back forty
Back when I was just a little lad
Digging up the fields and laying down the furrows
When the weather it was good or bad
I remember well what my daddy used to say
As he pushed along behind the plow:
"Jack's a good old mule, and there ain't another like him,"
And the sweat was dripping off his brow

He sang, "Ol' jack, can you hear the wind blow?
Ol' Jack, can you feel the time go?
Ol' Jack, you don't look like much
But you've always been a friend to me."

Ol' Jack had been around for as long as I remember
And perhaps another year or so
And there never was a time when that floppy-eared critter
Didn't put his heart in every row
When the crops came up, Daddy used to stop and smile
And he'd say he was a thankful man
For the little bit of time that he had under Heaven
To be living and to work the land

He sang, "Ol' jack, can you hear the wind blow?
Ol' Jack, can you feel the time go?
Ol' Jack, you don't look like much
But you've always been a friend to me."

When the snows fell down in the middle of the winter
Jack would pull us down along the road
In a rickety sleigh that we got from the neighbors
With two runners that were bent and bowed
Then we'd all stop awhile and we'd listen to the wind
As it whistled on the winter's night
Jack would listen too, and Daddy'd sing in the snow
As it settled on the fields of white

He sang, "Ol' jack, can you hear the wind blow?
Ol' Jack, can you feel the time go?
Ol' Jack, you don't look like much
But you've always been a friend to me."

And so I stand in the fields of this little old farm
And I push along behind a plow
I remember all the times and the seasons and the wind
And the little lad that's older now
I got an old mule and I call him Jack
And he puts his heart in every row
A woman and a son and on old-time song
And I love to sing it very low
I sing "Ol' jack, can you hear the wind blow?
Ol' Jack, can you feel the time go?
Ol' Jack, you don't look like much
But you've always been a friend to me."