Talking Columbia Blues

[Verse] I was down 'long the river, just setting on a rock Looking at the boats in Bonneville Lock And the gate swings open and the boat sails in Toots her whistle, she's gone a gin'! Well, I fills up my hat brim, drunk a sweet taste Thought about the river going to waste Thought about the dust, thought 'bout the sand Thought about the people, thought 'bout the land Ever'body running round all over creation Just looking for some kind of a little place Pulled out my pencil, scribbled this song I figured all these salmon fishers can't be wrong Them salmon fish, they're mighty shrewd They got senators, politicians, too! Just like a President, they run ever' four years Yes, them folks back east are doing a lot of talking Some of them baulking and some of them squawking But with all their fingering and all their books Well, they just didn't know them raw Chinooks Salmon! That's a good river! Just watch this river and pretty soon Ever'body's going to be changing their tune The big Grand Coulee and Bonneville Dam Run a thousand factories for Uncle Sam An' ever'body else in the world Making ever'thing from sewing machines to fertilizer Atomic bedrooms!... Plastic! Everything's going to be made out of plastic! Yes, Uncle Sam needs wool, Uncle Sam needs wheat Uncle Sam needs houses and stuff to eat Uncle Sam needs water and power dams Uncle Sam needs people and people needs land Don't like dictators not much, myself But I think the whole country ought to be run By electricity!