I ain't gonna ride no rail or hitchhike down no highway
I ain't' 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

It’s gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long day
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 who could ever take my loving and do me wrong
I could work all day with nothing in the world to feel

It’s gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long day
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
Struggling along somehow

It’s gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long day
Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio
Gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away

It’s gonna take a lot of river
To keep this broken heart afloat
Gonna take a lot of river
Running all the live long day
Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio
Gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away
It’s gonna take a lot of river
To wash these blues away