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River Towns Lyrics
I came in three days early
To meet my boat
It ain't the life of Riley
But it's keeping me afloat
It's quiet over Christmas
If you got no place to go
I got my home from river rats
The only home I know
I found myself a flophouse
And I hit the streets at nine
Get some grub and drink a beer
Maybe go down the line
These chips will take your money
Shake a young man down
It's the same in every one of these
Sorry river towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
Well I picked me up a bottle
To take back to the room
Then I saw a young girl standing
In a doorway in the gloom
We'd hardly started talking
The old scenario
And I just let her work me over
Down by the Ohio
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
When I asked her if she'd like to stay
She was down my stairs so quick
I never asked what got her started
With the sorry river tricks
So I get the bottle open
But something's hit a nerve
And I'm looking in the mirror
At the face that I deserve
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
To meet my boat
It ain't the life of Riley
But it's keeping me afloat
It's quiet over Christmas
If you got no place to go
I got my home from river rats
The only home I know
And I hit the streets at nine
Get some grub and drink a beer
Maybe go down the line
These chips will take your money
Shake a young man down
It's the same in every one of these
Sorry river towns
River towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
To take back to the room
Then I saw a young girl standing
In a doorway in the gloom
We'd hardly started talking
The old scenario
And I just let her work me over
Down by the Ohio
River towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
She was down my stairs so quick
I never asked what got her started
With the sorry river tricks
So I get the bottle open
But something's hit a nerve
And I'm looking in the mirror
At the face that I deserve
River towns
River towns, sorry river towns
River towns
Song Info
Submitted by
mellow_harsher On May 08, 2019
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This seems fairly straightforward: A lowly deck hand spends another lonely night in one of the many anonymous 'river towns' along the Ohio River. Could be modern, but it feels 50 - 100 years back. Things haven't changed that much.
After some bar food and a beer, he's headed back to the flophouse when a young streetwalker invites him into the alley, where he lets her 'work him over.' The quick transaction awakens his loneliness and he impulsively invites her to spend the night with him at the flophouse, which scares her. He's crossed a line and she flees back to her familiar routine of the additional 15-minute 'dates' awaiting her down the road.
Back at the flophouse, he pours a drink and finds himself 'looking in the mirror at the face that [he] deserves' -- eroded by years of hard work, pain, and loneliness. Why did he make that momentary slip of seeking emotional intimacy with a hooker? It's a mistake he won't repeat as he goes back to the ship on his way to the next faceless rivertown...