Showboat coming up the river
See her lanterns flicker in the gentle breeze
I can hear the crickets singing in the evening
Old Dixie Lily moving past the cypress trees
My little boat - she rocks easy
I've been catching catfish in the creek all day
Oh, and I've never seen ladies like those on the big boats
Must be fancy breeding lets you live that way
Dixie Lily, chugging like a grand old lady
Paddles hitting home in the noonday sun
Plowing through the water with your whistles blowing
Down from Louisiana on the Vicksburg run
Papa says that I'm a dreamer
Says them 'squitas bit me one too many times
Oh, but I never get lonesome living on the river
Watching old Lily leave the world behind