Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Mike Fink
Mike Fink
Mike Fink
(Bob Dyer)
Well, my daddy was a bear in the Allegheny Mountains
And my mother was a 'gator in the Ohio
I was born full-growed at the forks of the river
And I cut my teeth on a catfish bone
Oh, my name is Mike Fink, I'm a keelboat poler
I'm a Salt River roarer and I eat live coals
I'm a half-alligator and I ride tornaders
And I can out-feather, out-jump, out-hop, out-skip
Throw down and lick any man on the river
Well I poled the Ohio and I poler the Mississippi
And I poled the Missouri when she's choked with snags
I poled on the wilds and the salts of the Kentucky
And I never met a man that I couldn't out-brag
Well, Betsy is my shooting iron, she shoots like thunder
And she flashes like the lightening and she kicks like a mule
I can clip an Indian scalp, knock it cleaner than a whistle
I can knock a tin can off the head of a fool
Well, Carpenter's a name that I guess you heard tell of
I taught that critter everything that he knowed
But he done me dirt on the Yellowstone River
And I crossed his eyes with a musket ball
Well, some say I died on the Yellowstone River
Or was shot by a man by the name of Talbot
But if you want to know the truth about what really happened
You're gonna have to come knocking on the Devil's door
recorded by Barton and Para
SOF