Showboat coming up the river

See her lanterns flicker in the gentle breeze

I can hear the crickets singing in the evening

Old Dixie Lily moving past the cypress trees



My little boat she rocks easy

I've been catching catfish in the creek all day

Oh and I've never seen ladies like those on the big boats

Must be fancy breeding lets you live that way



Dixie Lily, chugging like a grand old lady

Paddles hitting home in the noonday sun

Ploughing through the water with your whistles blowing

Down from Louisiana on the Vicksburg run



Papa says that I'm a dreamer

Says them skeetas bit me one too many times

Oh but I never get lonesome living on the river

Watching old Lily leave the world behind