Walter Brennan - Old Rivers lyrics

How old was I when I first seen old Rivers?

I can't remember when he weren't around

Well, that old fellow did a heap of work

Spent his whole life walking plowed ground.

He had a one-room shack not far from us

And well, we was about as poor as him

He had one old mule he called Midnight

And I'd trailed along after them.

He used to plow them rows straight and deep

And I'd come along near behind

A-bustin' up clods with my own bare feet

Old Rivers was a friend of mine.

That sun'd get high and that mule would work

Till old Rivers'd say, ''Whoa!''

He'd wipe his brow, lean back on the reins

And talk about a place he was gonna go.

He'd say, one of these days

I'm gonna climb that mountain

Walk up there amoung the clouds

Where the cotton's high

And the corn's a-growin'

And there ain't no fields to plow.

I got a letter today from the folks back home and

They're all fine and crops is dry

Down at the end my mama said, ''Son

You know old Rivers died.''

Just sittin' here now on this new-plowed earth

Trying to find me a little shade

With the sun beating down 'cross the field I see

That mule, old Rivers and me.

Now, one of these days

I'm gonna climb that mountain

Walk up there amoung the clouds

Where the cotton's high

And the corn's a-growin'

And there ain't no fields to plow.

With the sun beating down 'cross the field I see

That mule, old Rivers and me...