One Mississippi - Janis Ian

Deep in the heart of Dixie

Where cotton’s still the king

If you slide on down to the delta

You can hear those banjos ring

Might be the muddy water

Comes in the spring with the rain

Or a poor boy down on parchment farm

At the end of a ball and chain

Singing one Mississippi is a long time

Gone in the blink of an eye

Two Mississippi is a lifetime

The years just drift on by

M i s s i s s i p p i

If you stand on the banks of the river

As the evening sun goes down

When the cattails shake and shiver

You can hear that lonesome sound

Might be the moon on the water

Or the old gray ghost in the trees

Or the scent of the sweet magnolia

Rising on the breeze

Singing one Mississippi is a long time

The days just drift on by

M i s s i s s i p p i

And the riverboat floats by like a ghost

On its way down to New Orleans

The paddle wheel turns the coal smoke burns

From the heart of the delta queen

If you head on past the levee

Down a road that’s got no name

There’s a white cross on the hillside

And the sign says 'Jesus Saves'

And when that congregation

Began to sing and shout

You could hear the rafters rattle

In the land of the cottonmouth

Singing one Mississippi is a long time

The days just drift on by

M i s s i s s i p p i