Riverboat

(Bill Anderson)



Well, I spent the better part of

My life on a Mississippi riverboat

I used to be known from coast to coast

Ss the slickest gambler afloat.



I've dealt the cards from Minnesota

To the harbor at New Orleans

Made a lotta big money on the riverboat

Loved a lotta pretty riverboat queens.



Riverboat, riverboat

I love your whistle's wail

I wish I was back on the riverboart

'Stead of in the Memphis jail.



--- Instrumental ---



Well, a big man got on the riverboat

Our last time in St. Paul

He had a lotta money but his luck went bad

And the riverboat won it all.



He said I dealt from the bottom of the deck

And he pulled a shiny knife

But before that gambler lunged at me

My forty-four took his life.



Riverboat, riverboat

I love your whistle's wail

I wish I was back on the riverboart

'Stead of in the Memphis jail.



--- Instrumental ---



Well, they came on the boat and they

Took me to jail when we got to Tennessee

A gamblin' man has very few friends

Guess nobody cared for me.



Well, I might be here for a many long years

But if I ever get out

I'm gonna head straight for that levee

And get me a riverboat headin' south.



Riverboat, riverboat

I love your whistle's wail

I wish I was back on the riverboart

'Stead of in the Memphis jail...