It took a mighty good man
With salty hands
And a mighty long raft
To keep the fore before the aft
You take ten good men
And guts and luck
And you might navigate
The whirl and the suck
Well, the Tennessee River
Changed its mind
At Chattanooga
She oughta unwind
She could a run right on
To the Georgia Sea
But she cut right back
Through Tennessee
Well, the settlers come
By raft and boat
Bringing everything
That could stay a float
But like a loco horse
That'll twist and buck
They hardly ever made it
Through the whirl and the suck
It took a mighty good man
With salty hands
And a mighty long raft
To keep the fore before the aft
You take ten good men
With guts and luck
And you might navigate
The whirl and the suck
When general Washington
Was in his knicker bocks
The Cherokee Indians
Through the Chattanooga Rocks
And the Chickamagua tribe
And the Nickajack
They kept the watch
Where the river cut back
And if a raft or a boat
Ever rode the bend
The Indians got them
Cause they had them hemmed in
It took a mighty good man
With salty hands
And a mighty long raft
To keep the fore before the aft
You take ten good men
And guts and luck
And you might navigate
The whirl and the suck