Reap 'em in the Valley

Well, I've been living in Los Angeles, California for nearly twenty years now

At least I think it's been that long, maybe it's only fifteen, but

I've never been too good at keeping track of time

I come from farm country in the northeast

And it's quiet, peaceful and there's not a whole lot of people

It's just a whole lot different than this big town

Things move fast here and it's easy for me to get wrapped up in it

I lose myself a little bit and most of the time, I can't quite figure out why

Now I can blame it on this big city and everything in it

And I can blame it on that summer heat in the valley, or the guy that's in the Maserati

Trying to go eighty miles an hour down Sunset Boulevard

Or the vultures in Beverly Hills

But then one day, it all dawned on me

It's not the fast Maserati or the hundred and fifteen degrees in September

Or that entertainer ego thing

And I realized in this town, sometimes it's hard for me to believe in God

Now, I don't exactly know what God is, or looks like

But I know what it feels like, and I know what it wants

And you can call it him or her or them or whatever you want

I just call it God, because it makes things a little easier

And I'm not afraid of the word

Anyway, it's not like home, where when the winter ends, it turns into spring

Spring turns into summer, and it's mid-July and you drive down Hector Logan Road

And you pass through the tiny town of Burdett

Until you come to the top of Carpenter Road

The pavement turns to gravel

And you park your silver Volvo station wagon at the top

You get out and you've got on your cut-off camo cargo shorts and your Tevas

And it's 1995

And you head down Carpenter Road headed west toward Seneca Lake

You've got your gravel pit on the right and the Argetsinger farm on your left

You walk along the edge of the farm until you get down to Ginny Argetsinger's house

She was Beren and Will Argetsinger's grandma

And I'd–, I'd get past the house as quick as I could

I was kinda scared of Ginny

And you come past the first little outbuilding, they had a couple of old rusted-out packards in it

We'd hang out in there sometimes and sit in the packards

Mostly it was just to hide our weed

Head down the driveway a little bit further around the bend

And past the apple orchard until you get to Beren and Will and their mom's

And maybe, maybe have band practice

But mostly, we'd probably just head back up to that orchard

And sit there in those trees and watch that sun go down over the west side of Seneca Lake

When the fall would come, we'd pick those apples and take them up to Marty Morris's house

He had an old cider press - this old thing is just two giant pieces of wood

That would smash the apples together and just make what seemed to be just apple juice

But they called it cider

And we'd always grab a couple of those milk jugs full of apple cider and steal 'em away

And hide em in the shed with the packards and the weed

You let those things sit there long enough and before too long

You've got something a little more than just regular apple cider

I'll tell you, there is nothing in this whole world like sitting in that apple orchard

Drinking the cider that came from those apples

Watching that sun go down over the west side of Seneca Lake

Beren graduated from high school, I did not

He got a diploma, and I got a broken heart

I was lucky enough in this life to have what you call young love

I don't know if it was the real thing or not, but it sure felt like it at the time

But along came a taller and more handsome stranger with a motorcycle

And she was gone

So we had a graduation party for Beren right there in the apple orchard

I was really looking forward to the party

The main reason was that I was going to get to meet their dad's friend

His name was Ruby Love

First of all, because his name was Ruby Love

And second, he knew a lot of old folk songs

And I heard he was going to bring his big old Martin guitar

He was gonna sing Woody Guthrie songs and Carter Family songs

You know, at that time in that town

It was not like I could just go to a record store and pick up a Carter Family album

I couldn't wait to hear these things

We had the party and Ruby came

And I brought my guitar and he brought his old Martin

And we stood there in the apple orchard after the sun went down and that moon came up

And I started things off and I closed my eyes and I sang The Tennessee Waltz

I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz

And now I know just how much I have lost

You know the one

And it was the first time in my young life that I'd ever sang a song and cried at the same time

Tears, they streamed down my face and pooled at my feet

And I barely eked out the words

And I finished the song and I opened my eyes and looked at the moon

And the moon was shining on Ruby Love and he was eight feet tall

And his teeth glowed in the moonlight

As he got right in my face and grinned

He grabbed hold of that big Martin guitar and he sang:

Takes a worried man

To sing a worried song

Worried now, but I won't be worried long

Yeah, where I come from, it's really easy to believe in God

Sow 'em on the mountain, reap 'em in the valley

Sow 'em on the mountain, reap 'em in the valley

Sow 'em on the mountain, reap 'em in the valley

You've got to reap just what you sow