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 shit 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 shit creek Lie la lie la lie la... 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 shit creek Lie la lie la lie la...