Powderfinger Lyrics

Powderfinger

Look out, Mama, there's a white boat comin' up the river

 With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail

 I think you'd better call John, 'cause it don't

   look like they're here to deliver the mail

 And it's less than a mile away

 I hope they didn't come to stay

 It's got numbers on the side and a gun

   and it's makin' big waves.

 

 Daddy's gone, my brother's out

   hunting in the mountains

 Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou

 Seems the Powers That Be left me here to do the thinkin'

 And I just turned twenty two

 I was wonderin' what to do

 And the closer they got,

 The more those feelin's grew.

 

 

 

 Daddy's rifle in my hand felt reassurin'

 He told me, "Red means run, son,

   and numbers add up to nothin'"

 When the first shot hit the docks I saw it comin'

 Raised my rifle to my eye

 Never stopped to wonder why.

 Then I saw black, and my face splashed in the sky.

 

 Shelter me from the powder and the finger

 Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger

 Think of me as one you'd never figured

 Would fade away so young

 With so much left undone

 Remember me to my love, I know I'll miss her.