From the sheet music at Indiana University:


FLOATING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER ON MY WAY TO NEW ORLEANS
Words by Ballard MacDonald, music by Albert von Tilzer
New York: Shapiro & Bernstein, ©1915.

1. Hear them bells!
Honey, don't you hear them bells?
That's the sound that tells
I'm goin' away and
Never, never comin' back no more.
Down the Mississip',
Goin' to take a trip,
Goin' to spend my days and end my days
On that Lou'siana shore.

CHORUS: [SPOKEN:] (Hear them whistles blowin'!)
[SUNG:] I'm goin'!
Floating down the Mississippi River,
On my way to New Orleans,
There's no wonder that my heart's aquiver.
I'm returning to a lonely heart that is yearning.
Down in Louisiana,
There's a gal by the name of Hannah,
So I'm floating down the Mississippi River,
On my way to New Orleans.

2. Ice and snow,
Honey, they could never grow
Where I'm goin' to go.
The sun is shinin'
Ever, ever where I'm goin' to roam,
'Cept on moonlight nights
When the stars are bright;
Then the darkies sing and banjos ring
In my Lou'siana home.