MISSISSIPPI RIVER RUNNIN’ BACKWARDS Tom Russell (G) Mississippi River runnin' backwards, (Am) Earthquakes shook the land (Am7) (Am) It (D) happened down here in 1912, It's (C) happenin' here a(G)gain (G)Feast and famine, ya'll, fire and flood -
Abomi(Am)nations, you understand? (Am7) (Am) Don't (D) need no Old Testament prophet to tell me, We ain't (C) livin' in the Promised (G) Land Chorus: Everybody sing, (G) blow Gabriel blow, (Am) Blow that ragtime jazz (Bm) Judgement day is (Em) comin' down On the (Am) land of the (C) razzma(G)tazz I saw carpet sweepers and microwave ovens, I saw busted-out television screens Empty of TV evangelist cats With their hair all slicked down with Brylcreem Now the gospel news is really real bad news, No need to invent all that doom and gloom It's a one-legged race to the liquor store, Then a hop, skip and jump into the tomb Chorus (F) Steamboat whistles blowin' underwater Everything (C) backwards and upside down (F) Baby Moses in the bulrushes Paddling (D) Sideways to higher ground Old ladies gamblin' in riverboat casinos; Whirlpools swallowed 'em down Insurance executives and Fuller Brush salesmen Bushwhacked tryin' to leave town But their lifeboats went backwards Up the Mississippi River, Into the ancient old Missouri sod Up through Iowa and Minnesota, Into the hands of a righteous God Chorus