My daddy was a bear in the Allegheny Mountains
And my mother was a 'gator on the Ohio
I was born full-growed at the forks of the river
And I cut my teeth on a catfish bone

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keel-boat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornadoes
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river

Well, I poled the Ohio and I pole the Mississippi
And I poled the Missouri when she's choked with snags
I poled on the wilds and the salts of the Kentucky
And I never met a man that I couldn't out-brag

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keel-boat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornadoes
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river

Oh, Betsy is my shooting iron, she shoots like thunder
And she flashes like the lightening and she kicks like a mule
She can clip an Indian scalp, knock it cleaner than a whistle
She can knock a tin can off the head of a fool

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keel-boat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornadoes
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river

(NOG EEN COUPLET)
Well, the trouble .......................
I can put my fist to a steamboat spoiler

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keel-boat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornadoes
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river

Well, Carpenter's a name that I guess you heard tell of
I taught that critter everything that he know
But he done me dirt on the Yellowstone River
And I crossed his eyes with a musket ball

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keel-boat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornadoes
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river

Well, some say I died on the Yellowstone River
Or was shot by a fellow by the name of Talbot
But if you wanna know the truth about what really happened
You're gonna have to come knocking on the Devil's door

Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keel-boat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornadoes
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river