[C]                           [F]
Well I started out to be a tow-boat man
                                     [C]
But I never got the hang of a ratchet bar
                                      [F]
I was growing up decking in the Illinois trade
            [G]         [C]
With coal dust in my ear
                                [F]
I got stuck in the ice on Christmas eve
                         [C]
And I froze my ass it's true
                  [F]                   
Just a shivering and shaking with a 
               [C]                   [G]       [C]
Down south case of them steamboat whistle blues
                       [F]
Oh Captain Way I'm sorry,
                 [C]
My hat is off to you
                                 [F]
You've been hanging out by the old cook stove
          [C]          [G]       [C]
With the steamboat whistle blues

Instrumental:

Well way up North I called your phone
But I didn't get no one to answer
So I opened up the window and smoked a little bit
And I watched the cars go by

Gonna hunt you up and ask you
Have you found out anything new?
Or are you hanging to the best you have
With the steamboat whistle blues

I've been right here since nine o'clock
And believe you me that's true
I'm just looking at the waterway churning on
With the steamboat whistle blues

Instrumental:

Well the city's grown up
Where it looks all square like a crossword puzzle on the landscape
It looks like electric shaver now
Where the court house used to be
The grass is all synthetic and we don't know for sure about the food
The only thing we know for sure
Is them steamboat whistle blues

I'd sit and watch my T.V.
If I thought I could trust the news
About the only thing I trust these days
Is them steamboat whistle blues

Instrumental:

Well a far out Johnny well I heard him say
And he stretched out back on the waterbed
Bluegrass music is thing of the past and the same for Rock N Roll
And I loaned him two or three dollars
And he give me the latest news
And he left me here with a Rolling Stone
And the steamboat whistle blues

I'll tear out down the river
Someday before I'm through
Then come back here and see it out
With the steamboat whistle blues