The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93904 Message #1811778
Posted By: GUEST,quimby
16-Aug-06 - 09:46 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Steamboat Whistle Blues (John Hartford)
Subject: Lyr Add: STEAMBOAT WHISTLE BLUES (John Hartford)
STEAMBOAT WHISTLE BLUES
(John Hartford)
Well I started out to be a towboat man
But I never got the hang of a ratchet bar.
I was a-growin' up a-deckin' in the Illinois trade
With coal dust in my ear.
I got stuck in the ice on Christmas Eve
And I froze my ass, it's true,
Just a-shiv'rin' and a-shakin' with a Down South case
Of them Steamboat whistle blues.
Oh, Captain Way, I'm sorry.
My hat is off to you.
You've been a-hangin' out by the old cook stove
With the steamboat whistle blues.
Well, way up North I called your phone
But I didn't get no one to answer,
So I opened up the window and I smoked a little bit
And I watched the cars go by.
I'm gonna hunt you up and ask you
If you found out anything new,
Or are you a-hangin' to the best you had
With the steamboat whistle blues?
I've been right here since nine o'clock,
And believe you me, that's true,
Just a-lookin' at the waterways churning
With the steamboat whistle blues.
Well, the city's growing up where it looks all square
Like a crossword puzzle on the landscape.
It looks like an electric shaver now
Where the courthouse used to be.
The grass is all synthetic
And we don't know for sure about the food.
The only thing we know for sure
Is them steamboat whistle blues.
I'd sit and watch my TV
If I thought I could trust the news.
About the only thing I trust these days
Is them steamboat whistle blues.
Well, "Far out, Johnny," well, I heard him say
As he stretched out back on the waterbed.
"Bluegrass music is a thing of the past
And the same for rock and roll,"
And I loaned him two or three dollars
And he gave me the latest news,
And he left me here with a Rolling Stone
And the steamboat whistle blues.
I'll tear off down the river
Some day before I'm through,
Then come back here and see it out
With the steamboat whistle blues.