The version that I have been singing is slightly different from what is posted above:

By Craig Johnson, circa 1979
Slightly modified by Charlie Ipcar, 8/20/2025
Key: D (2/C)
Roll, Big Sandy, Roll

C----------------------------------------G
Whatcha gonna do when your love runs out?
---------F—C------------------G----C
Gonna sit by the river and count my doubts;
-------------------------------G
Sit by the river with my face so long;
F------C-----------------------G-------C
Sing about the times since you’ve been gone.

Chorus:

C-------------------G
Roll, Big Sandy, roll,
-------F---------G-------C
The river and the wil-low;
----------------------------------------G
The times and the towns you've knowed,
-------F----------------G---------C
The coal trains and the back roads.

Whatcha gonna do when the river runs dry?
Walk up the track where the weeds grow high;
The rotten cross ties and the cinders in the slack,
And I’ll know by then that you ain't coming' back. (CHO)

Whatcha gonna do when the yard's torn down?
Gonna walk up the alley to the old mill town;
Count all the windows where folks have fled,
And count all the words that never was said. (CHO)

Whatcha gonna do when the mill runs slow?
The people are shifting with no place to go;
I'll sit with the old men—the whisky and the rye,
I’ll sing about the old times—all gone by. (CHO)

Whatcha gonna do when the boys go home?
My pockets are empty and I’m sittin' alone;
I'm back on the bottom, no ace in the hole,
Waitin' for the wind, and the river to roll. (CHO)

Cheerily,
Charlie Ipcar: