well I'll sing to the river, to cheer her on her way,
she's a blue ol' girl, but no one cares, to travel on these days,
and I know some say she's lazy, she was strong enough before,
when half of every cotton crop, come floatin' passed my door
and it used to be a dance hall, when the gamblin' boats still ran,
the air was filled with lamplight, the sound of Dixieland
but the rivermen are gone now, she's a melancholy girl
she never sees the Delta Queen or the, Alabama Pearl
and I know that she's lonely, as she tumbles to the sea
she's headed down to Mexico to find some company
BREAK
and the only time I cursed her, was the spring of sixty-five,
when she ran upon the bean fields, lookin' more than ten miles wide,
but I, should've seen it coming, as it does from time to time
a woman's gonna make a fuss no one pays her any mind
but I'll sing to the river, to cheer her on her way
she's a blue ol' girl, but no one cares, to travel on these days
she's a blue ol' girl, but no one cares, to travel on these days