I had a true love from Hannibal
Where the Mississippi turns flat and wide
We'd lay out on the sandbars
And fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies
And I killed my true love from Hannibal
She was nineteen and I was twenty-two
Summer was ending and she was leaving soon
To study writing on the east coast
And I worked in my father's shop
Fixing air conditioners and heating pumps
Going to college never made much sense to me
I wanted to keep my true love close to me

The summers are hot in Hannibal
The summers there are unbearable
So we'd steal down to the water's edge
And cool off in the river's ebb
One night we decided what we would do
Swim to the middle ‘til our strength gave out
Where the current was strong and deep
Together we'd be pulled down to sleep
So we swam ‘til our bodies were weak
I watched my true love get washed out to sea
I felt a terrible grip from beneath
The river took her but it didn't take me

In St. Louis there's a prison cell
It'll be twelve more years ‘til I get out
When I do her father says he'll shoot me down
If I don't do it myself

Most days I just try and sleep
I dream of Hannibal when it was in between
It's not quite day and it's not yet night
We fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies