The River (piano)

I come from down in the valley where, mister, when you were young

They bring you up to do just like your daddy done

Well, me and Mary, we met in high school when she was just seventeen

We'd ride outta this valley into where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river, and into the river we'd to dive

Oh, down to the river we'd ride

And I got Mary pregnant, and, man, that was all she wrote

For my nineteenth birthday, I got a union card and a wedding coat

We went down to the courthouse when the judge put it all to rest

No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle

No flowers, no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river, and into the river we dived

Oh, down to the river we'd ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown company

Well, lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy

Whoa, them things that seem so important

Well, mister, they vanished right into the air

Now I just act like I don't remember, and Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

Her body tan and wet, down at the reservoir

And night, on the banks, I'd lie awake

I'd pull her close just a feel each breath she'd taken

Those memories come back to haunt me

And they haunt me like a curse

Is a dream a lie if they don't come true

Or is it something worse?

That sends me down to the river

And into the river we dive, oh

Down to the river we'd ride

Down to the river, oh, I know that the river is dry

Oh, down to the river we'd ride