God bless my daddy I learned so much from him He taught me at an early age I had to sink or swin He said boy that old river of life can wash away your dreams But you gotta keep right on kicking and swimming upstream
Before I knew it I was out there on the street That old gay they call lady luck she wasn't kind to me As a matter of fact you could say she was down right mean She kept me in way over my head and swimming upstream
Swimming upstream swimming upstream Fightin' every inch of the way for a poor boy's dream Things'll get rough times'll get lean But the only choise you got is to keep swimming upstream [ guitar ] Every time I think my ship is comin' in That old tide will turn and it'll take it back out again If I just lay back and float I'll be in trouble you see So I gotta keep working and kicking a swimming upstream
Swimming upstream swimming upstream... Swimming upstream swimming upstream... Yeah the only choise you got is to keep swimming upstream