John Hartford Let Him Go On, Mama Lyrics

Well he likes black coffee, fried eggs
And a well done T-bone steak
He like a red dress and pearly white teeth
And the flash of a pretty brown leg
He said back in the '30s, you know
You never had it made
He's an engineer over on the Ohio river
Runnin' in the Pittsburgh trade

With the inspection office in Louisville
At a desk for a very short time
And he played in a band on two different boats
Working for the Strackfus line
And long ago he smoked reefer
And he even made home brew
And the reefer come in through New Orleans
Back before World War II

[Chorus]
He's just a feller worked on the river
All his life by a paddle wheel
You say he's old fashioned
Well that ain't no big deal
Well it's too thick to navigate
And it's too thin to plow
So let him go on mama
And don't put him down for it now

Well he sits there an' smokes an old I-bolt cigar
Says he doesn't miss it at all
But he still goes out and he makes a few trips
In the summer and then in the fall
Oh, the railroad trains, the bus and planes
Been takin' up all the slack
He's been watching all those river towns
Slowly turn their backs

[Chorus]
He's just a feller worked on the river
All his life by a paddle wheel
You say he's old fashioned Well that ain't no big deal
Well it's too thick to navigate
And it's too thin to plow
So let him go on mama
And don't put him down for it now

Well he comes from a real old-time way of life
He had to fight to just learn how
And he might even have voted for Nixon once
But I'm sure he sees that now
Well Friday night he makes the best damn
Gumbo you'd ever want to eat
And Saturday morning 'fore everyone's up
He's gone off down to the fleet

[Chorus]
He's just a feller worked on the river
All his life by a paddle wheel
You say he's old fashioned
Well that ain't no big deal
Well it's too thick to navigate
And it's too thin to plow
So let him go on mama
And don't put him down for it now

You're as pretty as he is ugly
And he's the happiest man alive
You've got him into believing
That old men are back in style
Now you see these Oysters Bienville
And this baked potato skin
I eat 'em so I can grow up an' be
An old man just like him

[Chorus]
He's just a feller worked on the river
All his life by a paddle wheel
You say he's old fashioned
Well that ain't no big deal
Well it's too thick to navigate
And it's too thin to plow
So let him go on mama
And don't put him down for it now