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I was just the age of sixteen when I first went on the drive,
After six months hard labour, at home I did arrive;
I courted with a pretty girl, 'twas her caused me to roam.
Now I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by;
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
I'll build a lonesome castle upon some mountain high,
Where she can sit and view me as I go passing by;
Where she can sit and view me as I go marching on,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by;
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
When I am old and feeble and in my sickness lie,
Just wrap me up in a blanket and lay me down to die;
Just get a little blue bird to sing for me alone,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by;
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by;
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
This variant arranged and recorded by Great Big Sea (The Hard And The Easy, trk#3, 2005, WEA, Toronto, ON, recorded at The Great Big Sea Studio, St. John's, NL).
The YouTube video above features the Great Big Sea Puppets with a shortened recording of this variant by Great Big Sea.
See more songs by Great Big Sea.
A variant was sung by Mrs. Peter Mushrow [1912-2002] of Cape Raye, NL, and published as River Driver in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A shorter variant was collected in 1959 from John T. O'Quinn of Searston, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published as The River Driver's Lament in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.759-760, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
The YouTube video below features a live performance of a variant by Great Big Sea at the Rhythm & Roots Festival in Ninigret Park, Charlestown, Rhode Island, September, 2009.
The YouTube video below features an excellent acapella cover performance by Travis Hatcher of Labrador and Nova Scotia.
