River of blue cut through the valley  Swept past the willows and the sandy bar  Ran so swift, locked in my mem'ry  But the way things were is not the way things are  We used to swim in the crook of its arm  In the summer heat who could be blamed  Avoided the rapids as best as we could  Never thought that that stream could be tamed  Long ago I gave up that riverside valley  Traded coulees for towers of steel  Abandoned the vistas and valleys of childhood  For the things that they told me were real  No more would I run with the speed of a colt  Cross the gravel down by water side  To race with the twig I threw in at the bend  Couldn't beat it though god knows I tried  Now the river's not running as fast as it did  There's a dam there restricting the flow  And I don't run either as fast as I could  Guess that river and I have grown old  Now it's strange in returning to places of youth  It seems your memory has made a mistake  Cause the place that once scared you with white water running  Has been turned by decree to a lake  Makes me think about how too I smoothed out the wrinkles  Made the waters as calm as you please  Makes me think about how that river and I  Were both happier when we ran free  Now the river's not running as fast as it did  There's a dam there restricting the flow  And I don't run either as fast as I could  Guess that river and I have grown old  Guess that river and I have grown old