Mississippi Life Lyrics

Blue-jean jaundice roosting on his fence rail stands

He's got his elbows on his knees with his jowls resting in his hands

He liberates the spittle from the gaps in his teeth

Grittin' with his grill on ground tobacco leaf

His families huddled up on the flatboat waiting on the river's rise

Because his log cabins flooded from the devil in the Mississippi tides

His animals are mewling as the steamboat passed

The whole lot of them are stooped, mouth and gaze agape

Mouth and gaze agape

Because treading on the river is full of strife

But that's deep water living in a Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life

Three deep creep in a yawl sounding depth on the river in the dead of night

Buoy lantern shimmer spots shoals by the shore in a distant light

The pilot's got his hands on the ten and two

Yacking jibber-jabber thoughts to the lower deck crew

When suddenly the pilot stopped the engines when he saw that the buoy lantern shimmer went black

But then it reappeared brighter in the center of the river and so he brought them engines back

And as the bows were in the act of splitting that shoal the sounding-boat crunched with a brittle snap

The steersman sent two brave souls to the grave and left the other one handicap

You know treading on the river is full of strife

But that's deep water living in a Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life

Colonnade and columns of black smoke ascending from the Natchez and and the Robert E Lee

Forecastles lit up and glowing with a red glare from torch-basket jubilee

And on the river banks, it's all hats and huzzah!

With the spectators claiming them the fastest dam thing they ever did saw

Fastest thing they ever did saw

Because treading on the river is full of strife

But that's deep water living in a Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life

Because treading on the river is full of strife

But that's deep water living in a Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life

Because treading on the river is full of strife

But that's deep water living in a Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life

Yeah Mississippi Life

Mississippi Life