The river it knew my name    And not many men could say the same    but it’d lose it’s soul when the rains came    lose it’s soul when the rains came    River’s edge ain’t no place to be    unless you was born a man like me    work just crumbles beneath my feet    work just crumbles beneath my feet       Valley was warned as far as I could tell    with announcements the good Lord makes so well    nothing to buy but a lot to sell    nothing to buy but a lot to sell    seems the river had it way many years before    with water breaking down granddaddy’s front porch door    he stuck his regiment’s flag in the muddy shore    said you ain’t taking another inch anymore       He said the river takes notice if you make a stand    as it wears down a young farmer’s land    it remembers faces as it rolls by    it remembers faces as it rolls by    Daddy brought me to the roof in 72    with the rain soaking us both thru    he said ‘son I think it’s gonna spare us this time’    I think he’d been nippin’ at granddaddy’s wine       break:    I guess five wars will turn a family hard    mamma said ‘pay no attention to that boat in the yard’       The river it knew my name    And not many men could say the same    but it’d lose it’s soul when the rains came    lose it’s soul when the rains came