Range Fire

Stacking hay one day in August 
When we saw the column rising
Smoke off in the distance
Past the hills on the horizon
Cousin Davie shouted loud
Scared my baby sister and
The look on Daddy's face betrayed
The quiet of his whisper
	
	CHORUS:

       RANGE FIRE (PRAIRIE FIRE)
       I CAN SEE THE SMOKE A'RISING
       RANGE FIRE (PRAIRIE FIRE)
       I CAN FEEL THE HEAT A'CLIMBING
       RANGE FIRE (PRAIRIE FIRE)
       I CAN HEAR THE WIND A'WHINING
       CRYING NATURE'S WARNING OUT
       IN BLAZING TONGUES OF FIRE

Son, throw the pitchfork down,
Forget the hay, just chuck it
I'm coming with the pickup
Bring the shovels, bags and buckets
That's good land a'burning
And we'll put the fire out
We've got no one to help us, boy
We have to help ourselves


Cars and trucks and pickups
Filled the roads from all directions
Agriculture's soldiers 
Come to quell the insurection

CHORUS

Black smoke a beacon
Hear the engines howl
Passing tractors racing
Down the highway pulling ploughs
In the light of the inferno
Battle lines were forming
Folks heedless of the dangers
Of winds shifting without warning

Farmers, ranchers, cowboys
Wives, and sons and daughters
Made a chain back to the river
Passing buckets filled with water
Beating back the flames of hell
With sodden burlap bags 
Ploughshares scratched a fire line
And tractors pulled the drags.

	CHORUS

Then it was over, quickly
Fast as it began
Shifting winds drove the fire back
Onto the blackened land
Just one skirmish in the war
Of nature versus man
But you know that smoky column
One day will rise again

	CHORUS