Crossing Muddy Waters

Baby's gone and I don't know why She let out this mornin' Like a rusty shot in a hollow sky She left me without warnin' Sooner than the dogs could bark Faster than a sun rose Down to the banks on an old mule car She took a flatboat 'cross the shallow Left me in my tears to drown She left a baby daughter Now the river's wide and deep and brown She's crossin' muddy waters Tobacco standin' in the fields Be rotten come November And a bitter heart will not reveal A spring that love remembers When that sweet brown girl of mine Hair black as a raven We broke the bread and drank the wine From a jug that she'd been savin' Left me in my tears to drown She left a baby daughter Now the river's wide and deep and brown She's crossin' muddy waters Baby's cryin' and the daylight's gone That big oak tree is groaning In a rush of wind and a river of song I can hear my true love moanin' Cryin' for her baby child Or cryin' for her husband Cryin' for that river's wild To take her from her loved ones Left me in my tears to drown She left a baby daughter Now the river's wide and deep and brown She's crossin' muddy waters Now the river's wide and deep and brown She's crossin' muddy waters