Margaret made the tune for John Nutting's sad commentary on life past and present in Vermont. She said John was watching a fellow try to mow a rock-strewn hillside with a tractor when he got the idea for the poem. (GB)
Up here the land turns hard, life gets boney
The way from Litchburg to Barton is humped up and stony
There's no straight line laid out for a man
His way gets bent by mountains again and again
You got to back way up, you got to start all over
To make ends meet on the Hills of Dover
You got to back way up, you got to start all over
To make ends meet on the Hills of Dover
Well we stood it good when the spring meant sugaer and the fall meant wood
We made our way in the winter with logging and the summer with hay
Many good men went up that road till it got too steep for the heavy load
They turned out from Rupert and Bondville and Belividere to clear another passage for the coming year.
Well we kept on hewin' the land without a team in the trace, without an axe in the hand
We bulldozed ski runs all over these hills and draglined ponds where there aren't no mills
Sugarbush, Killington, Magic Mountain, Chalet Village, and a Friendship Fountain
These are the new crops to nourish our bones
Till we get laid out straight among these stones.