R.R.1, Box 188 A-1, Oquawka , Illinois 61469
Around these parts come harvest day
Up real early get out of the hay
Jump in your pants and get in the car
There’s a threshin’ going on and it ain’t very
far.
Friends gather around from area wide
Preparing to reap the yellow tide.
Grease and oil the iron in the field.
By the end o’ the day we’ll know the yield.
The engineer’s been up two hours or more
Stuffing wood in the firebox door
Stuck with the job he can’t roam.
150 lbs. reads the gage on the dome.
Turn her around boys and back in the belt
These have to be the best times a man ever felt.
Open the throttle, she’ll huff and pop
Oh, what a sound, she runs like a top!
Throw in the bundles, start weighing grain.
The sun’s out now but it might rain.
Don’t plug her up, pitch ’em in just so
One rack down and ten to go.
Under the feeder there’s a real mess.
Up walk a man with real finesse.
Keep her running boys I know many jobs
Why with a bundle fork I could load corn cobs.
Whoa! Shut her down. There’s sparks in the sky.
Parts of the concave just let fly.
Up on the top, stick your head in
What to find but a beat-up hitch pin.
‘Hitch Pin Ballard’ is now his name.
Hiding hitch pins is now his game.
When the thresher’s unhooked and the pin’s out of it’s
socket
You’ll never find it unless you look in his pocket!
