MIKE FINK
(Bob Dyer)

Well, my daddy was a bear in the Allegheny Mountains
And my mother was a 'gator in the Ohio
I was born full-growed at the forks of the river
And I cut my teeth on a catfish bone

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keelboat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornaders
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river

Well I poled the Ohio and I poler the Mississippi
And I poled the Missouri when she's choked with snags
I poled on the wilds and the salts of the Kentucky
And I never met a man that I couldn't out-brag

Well, Betsy is my shooting iron, she shoots like thunder
And she flashes like the lightening and she kicks like a mule
I can clip an Indian scalp, knock it cleaner than a whistle
I can knock a tin can off the head of a fool

Well, Carpenter's a name that I guess you heard tell of
I taught that critter everything that he knowed
But he done me dirt on the Yellowstone River
And I crossed his eyes with a musket ball

Well, some say I died on the Yellowstone River
Or was shot by a man by the name of Talbot
But if you want to know the truth about what really happened
You're gonna have to come knocking on the Devil's door

@legend @river @outlaw
recorded by Barton and Para
filename[ MIKEFINK
SOF
mudcat.org

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