The Whirl and the Suck

It took a mighty good man with salty hands

And a mighty long raft

To keep the fore before the act

It take ten good men, and guts, and luck

And you might navigate the whirl and the suck

Well, the Tennessee River changed its mind

At Chattanooga, she oughta unwind

She could a run right on the Georgia Sea

But she cut right back through Tennessee

Well, the settlers come by raft and boat

Bringing everything that could stay a float

But like a Loco horse that'll twist and buck

They hardly ever made it through the whirl and the suck

It took a mighty good man with salty hands

And a mighty long raft

To keep the fore before the act

It take ten good men, and guts and luck

And you might navigate the whirl and the suck

When General Washington was in his knicker bocks

The Cherokee Indians through the Chattanooga rocks

And the Chickamauga tribe, and the Nickajack

They kept the watch where the river cut back

And if a raft or a boat ever rode the bend

The Indians got them 'cause they had them hemmed in

It took a mighty good man with salty hands

And a mighty long raft

To keep the fore before the act

It take ten good men, and guts, and luck

And you might navigate the whirl and the suck