Well I spent the better part of my life on a Mississippi riverboat

I used to be known from coast to coast as the slickest gambler afloat

I've dealt the cards from Minnesota to the harbor in New Orleans

I made a lotta big money on the riverboat I loved a lotta pretty riverboat queens

Riverboat riverboat I love your whistle's wail

I wish I was back on the riverboart stead of in the Memphis jail

[ banjo ]

Oh a big man got on the riverboat our last time in St Paul

He had a lotta money but his luck went bad and the riverboat won it all

He said I dealt from the bottom of the deck and he pulled a shiny knife

But before that gambler lunged at me my 44 took his life

Riverboat riverboat...

[ banjo ]

Well they came on the boat and they took me to jail when we got to Tennessee

A gamblin' man has very few friends guess nobody cared for me

So I might be here for a many long years but if I ever get out 

I'm gonna head straight for that levee and get me

S riverboat headin' south

Riverboat riverboat...

Stead of in the Memphis jail