I could see that you're ready to go home There's some TV show that you're missing But you know how an old man loves to talk And he needs someone who will listen Come and sit by the river with me for a while And I'll tell you a story that's true Of when I was a boy playing here on the shore And the grass was so green and the water so blue Well our house stood right over there Of course they took it down for the highway I can see my moma's tears, we've been there for twenty years And you know we would still if I had my way * Refrain Many years I have watched this river flow Rolling down from the hills to the ocean I have seen the waters high, almost fierce and rushing by I have seen in nearly dry and without motion Now at last you can see what it has come to Oh we prospered but poisoned the waters Now the tunes have all been played and the piper must be paid Not by us but our sons and daughters * Refrain