She said take your trouble to the river
Let the muddy water wash it away
If the truth don't float back up to the top
You can bid our love good day
So I took to the edge, I dove on in,
The current went and stole me away
Rocks and gravel, I ain't got a paddle
To dig my dying grave

See a trail of tears come trickling down
Where the water's got a bitter taste
My heart is heavy and my boots ain't steady
And the waves keep slapping my face
I can hear her voice in the howling rain
Saying it's sink or swim
But the deed's all done, I'm going down
And I won't be back again

God damn this river
And its wandering ways
And the love we made
Was shallow indeed
I'm sinking like a ship
I'm a runaway devil
And I ain't got a paddle
Going up sh*t creek

There's a bend up ahead by the dead bulrushes
Where the cottonmouth coil and play
I've been floating by levies and rusted out chevys
For now on fifteen days
In the fog, in the moon, in the mississippi mud
Everywhere I see her face
But I'm only a pebble in the belly of the devil
In a godforsaken place

God damn this river
And its wandering ways
And the love we made
Was shallow indeed
I'm sinking like a ship
I'm a runaway devil
And I ain't got a paddle
Going up sh*t creek

So I reach for the reeds and the roots of the willows
That rise like a ghost from the bank
Hear the roar and the crash of every lost soul
That sprung a leak and sank
When my body is a bag of broken bones
With a farewell breath I call
God damn you lover there will never be another
And it's over the waterfall

God damn this river
And its wicked ways
And the love we made
Was bittersweet
I'm sinking like a ship
I'm a runaway devil
And I ain't got a paddle

I say God damn this river
And its wandering ways
And the love we made
Was shallow indeed
I'm sinking like a ship
I'm a runaway devil
And I ain't got a paddle
Going up sh*t creek