River Hands

[Intro]

[slow

Roomy slide guitar figure over a low drone]

Muddy shoes on the levee

Crows cutting through the gray

Storm’s out there somewhere

But it’s rolling my way

[Chorus]

Got these river hands

Trying to hold on sand

Every good thing

Slipping through again

Oh these river hands

Shaking when I stand

But I keep on reaching

Reaching like I can

(with these river hands)

[Verse 1]

Coffee in a cracked cup

Photo on the fridge door

You left with the last flood

Didn’t come back to this shore

Bills in a bread tin

Letters I don’t send

Talking to your shadow

Like an old lost friend

[Chorus]

Got these river hands

Trying to hold on sand

Every good thing

Slipping through again

Oh these river hands

Shaking when I stand

But I keep on reaching

Reaching like I can

(with these river hands, oh)

[Verse 2]

Preacher on the AM

Says a change gonna rise

I just hear the screen door

Breathing in the night

Moon on the blacktop

Looks like a busted wheel

Spinning in the same spot

Where I learned to kneel

[Chorus]

Got these river hands

Trying to hold on sand

Every good thing

Slipping through again

Oh these river hands

Shaking when I stand

But I keep on reaching

Reaching like I can

(with these river hands, yeah)

[Outro]

[band drops soft; voice and guitar]

River keeps on talking

Says “start again

Start again”

I just wet my fingers

And I let it sing my name

(with these river hands, these river hands)