Ko-Ko Joe - Jerry Reed

Go ahead home

(Ko-ko Joe)

Up in Appaloosa county

There’s a place called Ko-ko Ridge

Sittin' right on the bend

On the Etowah River

Where the water washed away the bridge

Cotton Mouth Country

(Ko-ko Joe)

A river rat’s knee high

(Ko-ko Joe)

Way up around the back border

Lived a man

That the river folks talked about

They said you better stay away from Ko-ko Joe

'Cause he’s cause he’s crazy no account

(Ko-ko Joe)

Ko-ko Joe

They called him the Etowah River swamp rat

The folks despised him

(Ko-ko Joe)

Ko-ko Joe

He was an awfully peculiar man

The river was his only friend

And the folks didn’t understand

The man called Ko-ko Joe

(Ko-ko Joe)

(Ko-ko Joe)

He’d eat monkey meat and mashed potatoes

He drunk a brew called Mo-jo Claw

That he beat outa roots from old dead stumps

On the banks of the Etowah

Made him walk a little funny

(Ko-ko Joe)

Made his breath smell funky

(Ko-ko Joe)

Well he never come across the river

'Cause the folks didn’t like him in town

They said his hair was long

His clothes were dirty

They didn’t want him hangin' around

Ko-ko Joe

They called him the Etowah River rat

The folks despised him

(Ko-ko Joe)

Ko-ko Joe

He was an awfully peculiar man

The river was his only friend

And the folks didn’t understand

The man called Ko-ko Joe

(Ko-ko Joe)

(Ko-ko Joe)

Well it happened a year ago Sunday

And they still talk about it today

How the dam broke loose

On the Etowah River

Nearly washin' everybody away

The river water rising

(Ko-ko Joe)

Washin' up all the bushes

(Ko-ko Joe)

Well the headlines said

How a mother said, my son woulda lost his life

But he was pulled from the mud in the Etowah River

By the man y’all despised

(Ko-ko Joe)

Ko-ko Joe

They called him the Etowah River rat

The folks despised him

(Ko-ko Joe)

Ko-ko Joe

So be careful what you say, my friend

About folks you don’t understand

Someday you might need a man like Ko-ko Joe

(Ko-ko Joe)

Go ahead home son

(Ko-ko Joe)

Ko-ko Joe

They called him the Etowah River rat

The folks despised him