From the recording Native
This is the song of the Apalachicola River. My friend Bunky grew up along its banks and it shaped her life. She's so much like the River to me that it seemed natural to name the song after her.
Lyrics
Bright stars float on still, black water
Heat like a panther rises slow
Wind like a snake slithers on the river
It rattles the fronds of the palmetto
Frog shouts out as the rising moon
Spills a pool of milk-white light
Gator growls back from the muddy bank
And the Apalachicola comes alive at night
My boat floats like a leaf on the water
Lying on my back, looking at the sky
The wood hull creaks like saddle leather
Sweat trickles down and burns my eyes
Somebody somewhere is causing trouble
Some big city hears a siren wail
But on the Apalachicola the night bird's singing
And the Milky Way looks like a comet's tail
Then, there's the faraway rumble of a shrimp boat working
And the distant whistle of a factory
Dawn starts erasing all the stars from the heavens
And the Apalachicola is calling me
"Stay," she says in a lover's whisper
"Drift a little longer on my gentle bed
Stay with me and none will harm you
Linger here with me," the River said
"Linger here with me," the River said.