MIKE FINK



Well, my daddy was a bear in the Allegheny Mountains

And my mother was a 'gator in the Ohio

I was born full-growed at the forks of the river

And I cut my teeth on a catfish bone



Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keelboat poler

I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals

I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornaders

And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip

Throw down and lick any man on the river



Well I poled the Ohio and I poler the Mississippi

And I poled the Missouri when she's choked with snags

I poled on the wilds and the salts of the Kentucky

And I never met a man that I couldn't out-brag



Well, Betsy is my shooting iron, she shoots like thunder

And she flashes like the lightening and she kicks like a mule

I can clip an Indian scalp, knock it cleaner than a whistle

I can knock a tin can off the head of a fool



Well, Carpenter's a name that I guess you heard tell of

I taught that critter everything that he knowed

But he done me dirt on the Yellowstone River

And I crossed his eyes with a musket ball



Well, some say I died on the Yellowstone River

Or was shot by a man by the name of Talbot

But if you want to know the truth about what really happened

You're gonna have to come knocking on the Devil's door



@legend @river @outlaw

recorded by Barton and Para

filename[ MIKEFINK

SF

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