Down by the banks of the Colorado

My true love and I one night did lie

And we laughed and played and made fun

Of the entire world spinning 'round the sun
Down by the banks of the Colorado

Up from the banks of the Colorado

Nightwatchmen stood guard 'round the wagon yard

And I took a pillar for a sign

That the salt of the earth was surely mine

Up from the banks of the Colorado

Oh the townhouse warbler lives far apart in a song

He holds the poor in his memory he never, he never lets on

He gathers strength as he gazes at length in a joy

You cannot tell from the sound of nothings been heard from his boy

He's a thief in the night and he's stealing for light you won't know it

He's already found you, his arms all around, you won't show it

It's today you say you're leaving, darlin'

Time comes when you must follow your own star

And though my silly mind is sick with fear

In my heart I know that these differences just go to show
How much the same we are

Someday we'll build a new home

Up in the canyon by the falls

Splashing water our companion

Under shooting stars

And when Mother Earth and Father Time

Just because of the mood I'm in

I know there's more to the weather than the western wind

And I feel like I'm gonna feel

Like a willow tree that's got some branches to bend

Well I give you all of my time

But you know I got nothing of the kind

And I take all your troubles I can find

But I know you say, you got nothing, nothing of the kind

Well I was told to just come on in

I've seen crimson roses growing through a chain link fence

I've seen crystal visions sometimes they don't make sense

You can see the future, it don't make no difference

Just don't talk about it, babe you know I love the suspense

I once build a mansion, then I tore that mansion down

I fixed up the penthouse, one day I burned it to the ground

It was a beautiful morning

On a hill where the wind only carried the sound

Of the mockingbird's song

And I was thinking about you

All the flowers were dancing

One by one they all told me of the time

That had been and the time that will be

And I was thinking about you

I walked on down by the river

Saw the sails on the ships that were leaving

For places I could only dream of

You were surely wrong, crazy to admit it

Now your tears come falling, just as pure as rain

Well babe you don't even have to ask me to forget it

I'm not even trying, it won't be the same

And I'll run from you, oh, in the morning time

I know you'll need me when the sun comes softly

You'll want me by your side

Baby Leonardo must have held his hammer heavy

You found me when my heart was broken

And the cold world was closing in

And with a word unspoken

You taught me how to live and love and laugh again

You found me when my wings were broken

And I was crying to the sky

And with your word unspoken

You made me whole and showed me how to fly

And I'm gonna love you, yes I'm gonna love you

Well hey mama now did you ever go down on

Down on the Mobile Line

Hey lordy mama, mama, hey lordy papa, papa

Holler 'bout the Mobile Line
Well it's a road to ride to ease your troublin' mind

Well I got a letter, now this is the way it read

Hey lordy mama, mama, hey lordy papa, papa

Holler 'bout the way it read

Said come home baby because your lover is dead

I was the one who taught her to kiss

The way that she kisses you now

And you know the way she touches your cheek

Well I taught her how

I was the one who taught her to cry

When she wants you under her spell

The sight of her tear drives you out of your mind

I taught her so well

And then one day I had my love

As perfect as could be

She lived, she loved, she laughed, she cried

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill

He sounds too blue to fly

The midnight train is whining low

I'm so lonesome I could cry

Did you ever see a night so long

When time goes crawling by

The moon just went behind a cloud

To hide her face and cry

The silence of the fallen star

Lights up a purple sky

And as I wonder where you are

I'm so lonesome I could cry