The Farmer’s Daughter

5/8/25

this piece just don’t fit anywhere, yet it’s the most interesting part.

[chorus]
I’m not the son of my father
I am the daughter
only child I work harder
farmer’s daughter
Won’t see me wear a dress
daytime overalls but at night
boots and Dukes at the tractor pull
and fall in love with a red neck

5/6/25

tubs of water in the field are frozen
lines of eyes line the fence-line
daddy’s buck knife from my pocket
stab at the ice until it’s broken

metal fence posts go zipping by
searching where the cows got out
and more broken gates tied together
with silver duct tape and bailer twine

[chorus]
I’m not the son of my father
I am the daughter
only child I work harder
farmer’s daughter

today’s list of chores on the farm
bail the hay, tote the barge, scrape the lot, muck the stall,
mow the grass, wash the tank, cook the meals, now it’s time
to milk the cows in the barn

[chorus]

[bridge]
Won’t see me wear a dress
daytime overalls but at night
boots and Dukes at the tractor pull
and fall in love with a red neck

[chorus]

[chorus]
I’m not the son of my father
I am the daughter
only child I work harder
farmer’s daughter

tubs of water in the field frozen
lines of eyes line the fence-line
daddy’s buck knife from my pocket
stab at ice ’til it’s broken

metal fence posts zipping by
where did the cows get out
broken gates tied together
silver duct tape bailer twine

[chorus]

[bridge]
today’s list of chores on the farm:
bail the hay, tote the barge, scrape the lot, muck the stall,
mow the grass, wash the tank, cook the meals, now it’s time
to milk the cows in the barn

[chorus]

Won’t see me wear a dress
daytime overalls but at night
boots and Dukes at the tractor pull
and fall in love with a red neck

[chorus]

E D A EF#A A
D ED D A G G
E F#A B E D AA
D ED D A G G

4/15/25

I am so sick of working on this song. Just put a ditty to it and move on.

4/13/25

story is about one thing, what is it? only child’s hard work? NO give a shit factor, it’s not relating to somebody else. Relationships. where are they?

I work harder, show how much harder I work and how much more is demanded of me because I am the daughter. I pull double duty farm work and house work. Gotta please my daddy, gotta please my mamma. Just sayin’, if I had a sibling, we could share the workload, but that wasn’t in the cards for me, or my family. Would be helpful to demonstrate jobs that really take 2 people and she either succeeded, or failed, being only 1 person.

tubs of water in the field are frozen
herds of thirsty eyes on the fence-line
daddy’s buck knife in my pocket
stab at the ice until it’s broken

metal fence posts zipping by
look where the cows got out
broken gates tied together
silver duct tape and bailer twine

I’m not the girl that wears a dress
daytime overalls but at night
boots and Daisy Dukes at the tractor pull
where I’ll fall in love with a red neck

today’s list of chores on the farm
bail the hay, tote the barge, scrape the lot, muck the stall,
mow the grass, wash the tank, cook the meals, now it’s time
to milk the cows in the barn

3/7/25

still not yet. I think the story map is now too much story. crying out loud. Try a new exercise?

[chorus]
I’m not the son
of my father
I am the
farmer’s daughter
born the only child
I work harder
because I am
the farmer’s daughter

3/6/25

What story is it about the farmer’s daughter? What about her? her relationship with her dad? her relationship with the brother she never had? Or brother died? You have an okay chorus, you need verses to support the story in the chorus.

She’s the only child, so she does as much work as she can to support her daddy, this song is about how hard she works to gain the approval of her father and fill the void of never having a son. She never gains the approval from her daddy, but he doesn’t disapprove either, he’s indifferent to her, which makes her think she has to work harder to gain his love. He is not demonstrative of love. Mom is never in the picture. So the verse about going out doesn’t really fit this storyline. You need an outline Daddy is a farmer works so much he doesn’t take time to relate. She can only relate to him in the amount of work she can get done. This is a sad relationship, so is there a way to turn into female empowerment of the current times? Can you make it happy instead? Can she be happy while telling a story of her indifferent father? What about the story being retold in the past, and she has moved on with her happy life, but shows a trigger or trauma response that she explains? Because she could only relate to daddy in the amount of work completed, this causes her to be an overachiever in adult life, and the story is how she navigates this and why this is this way? But the chorus is already set up a story, she is not the son, so the story is really here. What story? She’s not the son. Can daddy be supportive and loving and forgiving, but her pov is that she knows he preferred a son for the farm? that seems to be the chorus, and she works harder to compensate for not being the son. BECAUSE he is loving, she works harder at being something she can never be. How about when daddy has to call the neighbors to help with a chore that she can’t/couldn’t do/help/contribute/complete. Now it becomes a list of chores that she failed at? derp. A success story, how her and daddy complete the chores together even though she’s a girl, she’s made a tough girl by the farm. Yeah, she knows this would be done faster by a stronger man, but daddy let’s her do it anyway to let her feel like she’s as good as a son, and in that way daddy is loving and supportive. Daddy’s okay with a daughter, but she has a complex? What is a story? Hero? daughter. Struggle? completing 2 gender roles? So what? ChatGPT said:

Though only one, she’s never lone,
For with the land, she’s deeply grown.
Her father’s pride, his loving guide,
She’s the heart of fields far and wide.

And in her eyes, the future’s bright—
A farmer’s daughter, full of light.
The only child, yet not alone,
For in the earth, she’s found her home.

Not a bad pov, her love turns to the land. Maybe her daddy is dead now, and she continues to work on the farm because she inherited the farm as the only child. Working but lonely, but knows she’s not alone because daddy’s spirit helps her maintain the farm? She chose to carry on living and working the farm to keep it in the family, knowing she would have regretted selling the farm after his death. she moved away and came back after his death? because there was nobody else?

A generational success?

1. little farm girl working with daddy (Hero introduction)
   • she works as hard to please daddy
2. farm needs a son but got a daughter (conflict)
   • daddy hires help, causing financial strain
   • she get’s pregnant, disappoints daddy
3. she has a son (turning point)
   • daughter and daddy make up
   • daddy starts to see the grandson as the generational success, hope
4. daddy/ Daddy’s land is not forgotten (consequence)
   • daddy is old and can’t run the farm
   • she teaches her son everything daddy taught her

F’n NO because this story still celebrates the male over the female, and this does not fit today’s narrative of female empowerment.

what about:

1. little farm girl working with daddy (Hero introduction)
   • she works as hard to please daddy
2. farm needs a son but got a daughter (conflict)
   • daddy hires help, causing financial strain
   • she get’s pregnant, disappoints daddy
3. she has a daughter just like her(turning point)
   • over time, daughter and daddy make up
   • daddy starts to see the granddaughter as the generational success, hope
4. daddy/ Daddy’s land is not forgotten (conseq
   • daddy is old and can’t run the farm
   • she teaches her daughter everything daddy taught her

[chorus]
I’m not the son
of my father
I am the
farmer’s daughter
born the only child
I work harder
because I am
the farmer’s daughter

tubs of water in the field are frozen
herds of thirsty eyes on the fence-line
daddy’s buck knife in my pocket
stab at the ice until it’s broken

I’m not the girl that wears a dress
daytime overalls but at night
boots and Daisy Dukes at the tractor pull
where I’ll fall in love with a red neck

today’s list of chores on the farm
bail the hay, tote the barge, scrape the lot, muck the stall,
mow the grass, wash the tank, cook the meals, now it’s time
to milk the cows in the barn

metal fence posts zipping by
look where the cows got out
broken gates tied together
silver duct tape and bailer twine

3/5/25

AXXA line+3 Getting there, but listing and describing chores on the farm passes over the ‘give a shit’ factor, where’s the human interest? What is this really about?

tubs of water in the field are frozen
herds of thirsty eyes on the fence-line
take the buck knife from my pocket
stab at the ice until it’s broken

today’s list of chores on the farm
bail the hay, tote the barge, scrape the lot, muck the stall,
mow the grass, wash the tank, cook the meals, now it’s time
to milk the cows in the barn

[chorus]
I’m not the son
of my father
I am the
farmer’s daughter
born the only child
I work harder
because I am
the farmer’s daughter

metal fence posts go zipping by
looking for where the cows got out
broken gates tied together
silver duct tape and bailer twine

I’m not the girl that wears a dress
daytime overalls but at night
boots and Daisy Dukes at the tractor pull
where I’ll fall in love with a red neck

[chorus]

cigarettes, request, desk, respect, guest, blessed, guessed, expects, reject, ,

3/4/25

AXXA line +3 is forming. Toy with removing “still”, too much subject matter to cover? Change POV to the farmers daughter being born a girl instead of a boy, and how hard it was to do the work of a man. but stay triumphant, women’s lib and we are in a strong women era.

tubs of water in the field are frozen
herd of thirsty eyes line the fence
takes the knife from her pocket
stabs the ice until it’s broken

on the farm
x
chores outside are all done
time to milk the cows in the barn

born the only child
not the boy he wanted
she works harder
the farmer’s daughter

she’s not the son
of her father
the farmer’s daughter
the farmer’s daughter

farther, water, fought her, caught her, stop her, taught her,
she is smarter

broken fence posts in a line
x
metal gates tied together
with duct tape and bailer twine

water splashing from buckets
breakfast lunch and dinner

heifers waiting in a line
5 gallon buckets in each hand
metal gates tied together
with duct tape and bailer twine

their drinking tubs are frozen
a line of staring thirsty eyes
water splashing from buckets
pulls the knife from her pocket
stabs at ice until it’s broken

the farmer’s daughter
the farmer’s daughter
Born a girl
and not the son
she’s working
even harder
because she’s
the farmer’s daughter

born not the son
she works harder

fairytale songs lie about farming
her story does not pet animals
forced to work outside in the cold
Nothing about farm life is charming

her pant legs now frozen
spilt water from walking buckets
finish chores with ice on her legs
thawing ice from watering tubs
not the life she would have chosen

you see visions of green fields neat and tidy
I did not ask for this life
why does it have to be so hard
milking cows twice a day
never had a vacation
success means knowing how to repair the mower

every piece of equipment is broken
fences always need repaired
the cows are out is an emergency
it’s not my dream job
born a girl instead of the son

3/3/25

AXXA. I only liked 2 verses so far, but struggling with this season’s crop will provide, sounds too wholesome, which I think I was going for yesterday but is really bothering me today. Maybe because wholesome is not my truth. Do I change the song to my truth? stay with animals?

heifers waiting in a line
5 gallon buckets in each hand
metal gates tied together
with duct tape and bailer twine

her pant legs are now frozen
water spilt from walking buckets
staring at the line of thirsty eyes
finish the chores with stiff, icy pants
not the life she would have chosen

trying to forget
what the farm taught her
but remembering
she is

still the farmer’s daughter
remembering
what the farm taught her
she is
still the farmer’s daughter

now feeling comforts of the city

3/1/25

Do AXXA rhyme.

taught her, offer, quarter, water, dollar, talker, halter,

5 gallon buckets of water, I am still the farmers daughter

Contrast a chosen city life vs farm life? Even though I moved away to the city for a different kind of hard work. What kind? Inside. Stupid cubicle. Stupid goals and ambition. A lifetime wasted inside working. Worried and stressed, but I think the farmer is also just as stressed, probably more so. At least I get a corporate weekly paycheck even if I didn’t do anything or if I did a not so good job, still a consistent paycheck. And a thermostat without having to chop wood in the summer so you don’t freeze in the winter. Physical labor offsets stress. I have to pay a gym to do a ‘farmers carry’ of kettle balls. On the farm dogs run free, in the city pets get walks in the park. Move to the city to be free, but who is free? I still say outside work is hard, but inside work was bullshit, inside working for someone else is bullshit because now my lifetime of working was ended by layoffs of not my doing. Reflection is sobering. Concentrate on sense writing here. Dirt. Plow. The epitome of farming. Working dirt, digging in, up tilling the earth scratch the surface of the earth to implant a future. Physical pulling of a plow through the dirt by tractor or horse or mule, feeling the strained muscles of hard labor, the traction of your feet on the hard dirt in front, soft dirt behind, without pesticides or sometimes with pesticides but lets make them earth friendly, like soap as pesticide. The spring sun is warm and friendly and you choose to walk in the sun instead of the shade to feel the warmness, unlike summer.

instead of contrasting, what things do I still do today DESPITE living and working my entire life in the city, the things that point to me still being the farmers daughter?

• cooking from scratch
• I put a ham hock in my pot of green beans.
• I still snap green beans.
• I plant tomatoes in a pot so I can still pick them off the vine
• I still make homemade broth instead of buying it in a box by boiling the carcass
• Strawberry preserves
• Strawberry wine? sugar, yeast, fermentation, “must”, 6 months – 1 year
• I sew my own garments. See it in the catalog and copy it so I don’t pay catalog prices
• purchase ill fitted garments from thrift and alter to fit or make something else
• make compost from scraps, now in a barrel
• treat elders with respect and be kind to all people and especially animals

I am older, I do things in a different order, residential back yard I still plant my future, because, I am still the farmers daughter, you still see it, it doesn’t go away, its in my grain, because it’s in me it shows in everything I choose to do, because I got used to doing it that way when I was young, the way I was taught does not leave me. I am who I am because of what he taught me, I am still the farmers daughter. just because I moved from the farm, I moved away, I’m still doing the same things in a different place

Where’s the give a shit factor? bring in a relationship

make tension by him being annoyed with the fact that she has to do things ‘the hard way’ or the long way. He works hard to provide, and she still acts like they’re destitute. He appreciates and love her, but still questions. he doesn’t understand why she does these things but lets her do them anyway, because she was brought up that way. Is the perspective from his pov? More about how it affects him? It would be 1st person if Lainey sang it, so I’M still the farmers daughter, can tell about “him’ and his pov. 5 gallon buckets of water, is how we did it on the farm, I still do things the hard way because I am still the farmers daughter. 5 gallon buckets not working for a chorus. change pov:

things her daddy taught her
before she moved away
thinking of him today
same things today
plant a garden today
planting gardens in the city
now planting city gardens yeah, but locks subject to gardening

always remembering
she’s still the farmer’s daughter

Working dirt, digging in, up tilling the earth scratch the surface of the earth to implant a future. Physical pulling of a plow through the dirt by tractor or horse or mule, feeling the strained muscles of hard labor, the traction of your feet on the , without pesticides or sometimes with pesticides but lets make them earth friendly soap used as pesticide

hard dirt in front, soft dirt behind
tractors plant a family’s future
dropping seeds one by one
working without pesticide
this seasons’ crop will provide

treat animals with love and be kind
watering animals that are confined
5 gallon buckets in each hand
aluminum gates tied together
with duct tape and bailer twine

gradual, natural, confined, time, find, mind, behind

He always smiled attending church
read the good word to be a good person
learn to be grateful before turning in
kneel bedside to say a prayer first

keys, leaves, means, please, sleeves,

farewell, employ, avoid,

He said ladies don’t kiss and tell
Stay away from the town boys
she didn’t mean to disappoint him
disappointing daddy she could not bear
nine months later she bid daddy farewell <-too heavy for this song, keep story to simple life farming and how she is still applying simple life farming in her now city ways