LA BELLE RIVIERE



Dillon Bustin



1. Back in the days, the old books describe,

Back in the days of the Indian tribes,

They prayed to the river to forever flow,

And the name that they give her was Ohio

They fished her clear waters, They camped on her hills

Bathed at her shallows and drank at her rills

Some Frenchmen they came, scouting for game,

Gazed at the river, and asked of her name.



Chorus:

La belle riviere, the great shining water,

Cas-quin-ampo-gamou La Fleuve du Saint Louis

No matter the name, the meanings the same

She's a beautiful river, the Ohio.



2. The next to come in were the Kentuckians,

The Buckeyes, the Hoosiers, the Suckers and then,

They bought off the Indians, they cut down the trees,

For their barns and their mills and their factories.

Down by the cornfield she ran with the mud

Down by the slaughterhouse she flowed with the blood.

Below the brewery she was covered with suds

In the spring of the year she could not help but to flood.



3. The next to come in were the government men,

With their bankers and lawyers, their soldiers and then

They told the shantyfolk well you needn't fear,

To let the river be dammed by our engineers

With a lock over here, and a dock over there,

Bridges and trestles spanning the air

We'll build a pumphouse above every town,

Bring the fresh water in and let the sewage float down.



4. The last to come in have been the industry men,

Investing their billions around every bend

Reactors they leak, refineries spill

Yet it's pleasant to swim in and healthful to drink.

And I'm sitting here on the levee

Wonderin' at this long history, I'm wonderin' at this river of fame

And if she ever again will live up to her name.



1984.

@environment @water

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DC

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