The Sloop Clearwater

I was sitting on my front porch as I watched the river rot,

Thinking about the sturgeon that are gone but not forgot

And the buffalo an restless underneath the prairie sod

And the smoke stacked up to heaven so's it hid the face of God

There were soldiers marching by my door and a tap upon my phone

And a freeway inching toward me that would someday eat my home

And the smokestacks hid a sunset that would never come again

When they brought the Sloop Clearwater a-sailing 'round the bend.

The captain had a mustache that was fourteen inches long

And the shanty master paced the deck a-roaring out a song

And the man who held the tiller wore his hair down to his knees

And a hundred tons of canvas billowed out into the breeze.

But Redwood trees are crashing down out on the Western coast

And an angry shadowy army follows Crazy Horse's ghost

And the eagle's nest's as barren as the mountain lion's den

On the day the Sloop Clearwater came sailing 'round the bend.

The ship cut through the sewage lying on the river's face

And the sloop docked in the garbage that was all around the place

And the crew struck up a hornpipe and the boots rang on the wood

And the sound fell on the river and the river found it good.

But there's lightening in the Asian sky and thunder in the slums

You can hear the Indians tuning up their long forgotten drums

Children clap their hands and laugh as men are killing men

On the day the Sloop Clearwater came a-sailing 'round the bend.

I said you people all are fools to laugh and sing and shout

When your ship's so deep in liquid shit it never will get out

When children cry from hunger and grown men get mean from shame

And a war rages in every heart and the very ground's in flame.

You sail your dirty river and you sing your little songs

You dance your pretty dances and recite your petty wrongs

Don't you know that Abiyoyo's making footprints in the fen

While you bring your Sloop Clearwater a-sailing 'round the bend.

The crew just laughed and danced some more and the beads began to fling

And beards were lifted to the skies as the crew began to sing

A black man rose upon the deck and he preached a sermon there

And a crewman capered on the mast like a dancing grizzly bear.

I said you people all are fools but I guess I am one too

And it seems the guns went quiet then and the river all was new

The smoke clouds cleared and I almost wept to see the skies again

As they brought that Sloop Clearwater a-sailing 'round the bend.

The mountains rang as children laughed and women raised a song

The bison thundered down the plains a hundred thousand strong

The Ghost Dance tent was raised again and the Lion wandered free

And the rivers ran like silver from the mountains to the sea.

There was love and joy and brotherhood and peace the world around

There was life and paint and energy and trees and taste and sound

And Abiyoyo danced a solemn waltz out in the fen

When they brought the Sloop Clearwater a-sailing 'round the bend.

Now the sloop is gone and once again I watch the river rot

And someone feels the skyfire and another hugs the shot

And the heart of man is angry and the land of man is mad

And the air of man chokes on itself and the rivers all are sad.

We war against each other and we fight with our own souls

And we've killed off every river and our blood is icy cold

But a spark of joy jumps in my breast as I remember when

They brought that Sloop Clearwater a-sailing 'round the bend.