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-hanging 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 water bed,
Bluegrass music is a thing of the past and the same for rock 'n' 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.


from Aereo-Plain, Warner Records, 1971