One Mississippi

Fred Koller/Janis Ian

Deep in the heart of Dixie, where cotton's still the king
If you slide on down to the Delta, you can hear those banjos ring
Might be the muddy water
Comes in the spring with the rain
or a poor boy down on parchment farm
aAt the end of a ball and chain

Singing One Mississippi is a long time
Gone in the blink of an eye
Two Mississippi is a lifetime
The years just drift on by
M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

If you stand on the banks of the river
As the evening sun goes down
When the cattails shake and shiver
You can hear that lonesome sound
Might be the moon on the water
Or the old grey ghost in the trees
Or the scent of the sweet magnolia
Rising on the breeze

Singing One Mississippi is a long time
The days just drift on by
M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

And the riverboat floats by like a ghost
on its way down to New Orleans
The paddle wheel turns, the coal smoke burns
from the heart of the Delta Queen

If you head on past the levee, down a road that's got no name,
there's a white cross on the hillside,
and the sign says "Jesus saves"
And when that congregation
begins to sing and shout
you can hear those rafters rattle
in the land of the cottonmouth

Singing One Mississippi is a long time
The days just drift on by
M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

© Rude Girl Pub./Lucrative Music. All rights reserved.