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...