In the lyrics you posted, Joe, the word "somewhere" in the line
If I had ten million, somewhere thereabouts ...


Also (minor), in the recording I have of Jean singing this (also on YouTube), the line in the 3rd verse is
"Then they threw down the mountains and covered my corn,"

The ensemble recording on the new Jean Ritchie tribute CD "Dear Jean" has slight lyric variations. (Ensemble: John McCutcheon, Tim O'Brien, Susie Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, Stuart Duncan & Bryn Davies)

Here are the lyrics they sing:


BLACK WATERS
(Jean Ritchie)

I come from the mountains, Kentucky's my home,
Where the wild deer and the black bear so lately did roam.
By the cool rushing waterfall wildflowers dream
And through every green valley there runs a clear stream.
Now there's scenes of destruction on every hand,
And there's only black waters run down through my land

CHORUS: Sad scenes of destruction on every hand
Black waters, black waters run down through my land.

Oh the quail, she's a pretty bird, she sings a sweet tongue.
In the roots of tall timber she nests with her young.
But the mountain explodes with the dynamite's roar
And the voices of the small birds are heard there no more,
And the hillside comes sliding so awful and grand
As the flooding black waters rise over my land.

CHORUS: Sad scenes of destruction on every hand
Black waters, black waters run down through my land.

In the coming of the springtime we planted the corn.
At the ending of the springtime we buried a son.
In the summer comes a nice man, says "Everything's fine,
My employer just requires a way to his mine."
They blew down my mountain and buried my corn,
Now the graves on the hillside's a mile deeper down,
And the man stands and talks with his hat in his hand
As the poison black waters rise over my land.

CHORUS: Sad scenes of destruction on every hand
Black waters, black waters run down through my land.

We ain't got much money, not much of a home.
We own our own land, but our land's not our own.
But, if we had ten billion, somewhere thereabout,
We would buy up our mountain and run 'em all out
And just sit on the banks, our bait in our can
And just watch them clear waters run down through our land

(FINAL CHORUS) Now, wouldn't that be like the old promised land?
Black waters, black waters no more in our land.
(REPEAT FINAL CHORUS)