Roll On Missouri, Roll On (P#0544) Collection

Collection includes 4 WAV files and 2 MP3 files. Song is also part of the "Midwest Song Collection" Coming Soon.

Original Song Lyrics: Written by M. S. McKenzie, All Rights Reserved

"Roll On, Missouri, Roll On"

[Intro]

A morning mist rises over a Three Forks dawn

As the Gallatin Madison and Jefferson sing as one

A gentle light spills across cottonwood islands

As the Big Muddy begins its long and winding run

[Verse 1]

She cuts through limestone walls at Gates of the Mountains

While the echoed cries of bald eagles ride the early morning air

From Fort Benton’s old wood docks to wheat fields far beyond

The great Missouri River carries stories only time can share

[Chorus]

Roll on Missouri ... (roll on) keeper of prairies and plains

You carved great canyons before you watered the grain

From your Rocky Mountain cradle to the Mississippi's embrace

Your restless winding current writes the heartbeat of this place

[Verse 2]

Mandan earth-lodges once watched your silver ribbon shimmer

While Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea followed your winding path

Then steamboat whistles echoed across your wide expanse

Trading big city dreams for furs and freedom in the prairie grass

[Verse 3]

Through Fort Peck Lake’s wide expanse of water

Then past the Badlands of North and South Dakota

Where Lake Oahe mirrors a red hawk on the wing

And sandhill cranes and cowboys come together to sing

[Bridge]

You gather snows from the Rockies, tears from an endless sky

You bend but never break ...

...teaching us all how to survive

In every flood and drought ...

...in every shining bend

We learn that all we ever build must flow and start again

[Verse 4]

Loess Bluffs rise abruptly above your muddy waters

While the thirsty fields of the Great Plains drink your gold-silt rain

At Council Bluffs gamblers and dreamers crossed over

Then St Louis lanterns watched you meet the Mississippi plain

[Chorus]

Roll on Missouri ... (roll on) keeper of prairies and plains

You carved great canyons before you watered the grain

From your Rocky Mountain cradle to the Mississippi's embrace

Your restless winding current writes the heartbeat of this place

[Outro]

Night settles soft ... fireflies drift by the levee

Your low hush carries cottonwood song

We stand on your banks and feel the ages moving

Flow on Missouri ... flow ever strong