The higher that the monkey can climb   The more he shows his tail   Call no man happy 'til he dies   There's no milk in the bottom of the pail      God builds a church   And the devil builds a chapel   Like the thistles that are growing   'round the thrunk of a tree   All the good in the world   You can put into a thimble   And still have room for you and me      If there's one thing you can say about mankind   There's nothing kind about man   You can drive out nature with a pitch fork, baby   And it'll always comes roaring back again      Misery's the River of the World   Misery's the River of the World   Misery's the River of the World      The higher that the monkey can climb   The more he shows his tail   Call no man happy 'til he dies   There's no milk in the bottom of the pail      God tempers all the winds for the new shorn lambs   The devil knows the bible like the back of his hand   All the good in the world   You can put into a thimble   And still have room for you and me      If there's one thing you say about mankind   There's nothing kind about man   You can drive out nature with a pitch fork   And it'll always comes roaring back again      For want of a bird, the sky was lost   For want of a child, the knife was lost   For want of the toy, the child was lost   For want of a nail, a shoe was lost      And misery's the river of the world   Misery's the river of the world   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row, everybody row   Misery's the river of the world   Misery's the river of the world   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row, everybody row   Misery's the river of the world   Misery's the river of the world   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row, everybody row   And misery's the river of the world   Misery's the river of the world   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row, everybody row   And misery's the river of the world   Misery's the river of the world   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row, everybody row   And misery's the river of the world   Misery's the river of the world   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row, everybody row   Everybody row