my brother was twenty-one
when all the work was done
We went down to the river,
had some trot lines to run
had a fight the week before
Knocked a boy named Wilson
Through the pool hall door
They said you don't mess with Wilson
I put the boat in the water,
and I made the engine run
We were running our lines
Heard some drunken boaters
It was Wilson and his cousin,
they had trouble on their minds
probably going to tend their pots
with the fish we'd caught
But before we made the landing,
My brother Walter fell over the side
I couldn't find him, no matter how I tried
And I looked along the bank
but couldn't find where they'd hide
they searched it up and down
so they decide that he'd drowned
and Wilson bragged around town
So one night I floated down
Right above Wilson's shack
till I saw him walk out back
I put a bullet in his head
and dropped him in his tracks
And we went down the river
Where the water runs slow
I chained him to an anvil
And five years later I ain't told a soul
And I ain't done much fishing,
is still heavy on my mind
I've been thinking Wilson's cousin
Better find a place to hide
Cause I'm going down the river
