Well, I know that I shouldn't have done it
I know that it just wasn't right
'Cause they got me backed up to the Cotton Mouth River
And I can't cross late at night

Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cotton Mouth River
They tell them time and again
About the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
And never were heard from again

If I had my life to live over
I'd have gone to work that day
Instead of goin' into town and shootin' him down
For a thing I never heard him say

Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cotton Mouth River
They tell them time and again
About the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
And never was heard from again

Well, I just made it through the canebrake
And I got one foot in the mud
I can hear the hounds a-bayin' but the snake around my ankle
Is tellin' me my running' days are done