I ain't gonna ride no rail or hitchhike down no highway
I aint' going nowhere feeling the way I do
Because my baby's long gone and nothings going my way
I'm gonna let this muddy water just wash away my blues.

Chorus:
Gonna take a lot of river,
To keep this broken heart afloat,
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long days,
Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio,
Gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away.

Well, I wish I was tug boat pushing and pulling them barges along
Moving on the water with a heart made of iron and steel
There wouldn't be no women that could ever take my loving and do me wrong
I could work all day with nothing in the world to feel.

Chorus:
Gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long days
Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio
Gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away.

Is she in new orleans
Is she a cajun queen
I wonder what she's doing now
But if I know her she's got rings and furs, struggling along somehow.

Chorus:
Gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long days
Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio
Gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away.

Gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long days
Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio
Gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away...