 Columbia |
| ©Linda Allen 1989 Old town - hobo town Boats on the river movin' up and down Movin' kind of slow, but they've got all day Floatin' slow and easy is the river way It's a long, lonely way Gonna make Cathlamet by the end of the day Roll along, Bide the time River, rock me easy to the end of the line Wood shacks - railroad tracks Clingin' to the banks like a turtle's back Canneries and mills were the poor man's dream River was the road 'til nineteen seventeen CHORUS Tugboats - Big log floats Barges floatin' low holdin' wheat and oats When we reach the locks - it could take all day Don't the river sparkle in the sun today Instrumental chorus Night sky - -captain's sigh Anchored to the river bottom big boats lie Evenin' closin' in with a thousand stars One for every soul lost on this river's bar CHORUS Notes: In the Spring I traveled up and down the Columbia River, visiting Woody Gifford and Otto Oja, my favorite logger poets, and Bill Murlin of the BPA who told me all about Woody Guthrie's visit there some fifty years before me. Riverfront towns like Skamakowa and an evening spent watching the ships anchor for the night helped shape this song. |