How 'Bout Dat River?

Willie Bo...
Ol' Willie Bo.
Seems like he singin' himself
a new tune
yess'm.
Says he call it
"How 'Bout Dat River?"

Down by da banks of da delta
he strums dat gitar slow like
da river flows.
And he pauses e'vry now an' din
ta whistle.

I's sit back on a
tree trunk and jus'
listen
cause...
how 'bout dat river?

Deep southern voice Willie
sings what we be seein'
like broken branches
dat be jus' driftin' alone...
a ferry chuggin' off far away...
and youngin's fishin' catfish
fer supper.

He ask me if I's a try
but I can't oblige.
Naw, nawl Willie Bo
no singer is I
and no poet shall
I be.

Jus' let me relax,
sleepy from a grey sky
an' a lazy man's simple song.

"Ol' Willie Bo is a no good fool!"
Pappa be tellin' me
cause he don't like me hangin' round him so much.
but I's pay little attention
ain't been forbidden
so Imma' breath in
dis man's air
an' lay up on some
of his earth
fer all it be worth.

I's figured Willie long ago.
He jus' wants ta' be left alone.
Da river his quiet an peaceful home.
Da world is too busy
fer a man like he.

Bein' called names like
fool an lazy
by people's who ain't never cared
to take out time to know...
he jus' assume
pay dem no nevermind
an' strum dat gitar
an' whistle
as I's sit back an listen
to a tune he like to call...

"How 'Bout Dat River?"