"Ohio River Boat Song"- Palace

Palace/Bonnie Prince Billy/Will Oldham has always been one of my favorites ever since I heard this song, his first single.

"Ohio River Boat Song" is a reworking of the traditional "Loch Tay Boat Song" w/ Will's Appalachian take on a boatman's broken heart.

I love the way this song sounds; lurching along w/ Will's innocent voice, backed by some great, ragged harmonies, and shambling guitars and drums. And the bell-like guitar line that opens and closes the song is a little slice of heaven...


When it's time from work to go,
and in my boat I row.
'Cross the muddy Ohio
when the evening light is falling
And I looked towards Floyd's Knobs
where the afterglories flow
And I dream on two bright eyes
with a merry mouth below.

She's my beauteous Catarina,
she's my joy and sorrow too.
Though I know she is untrue,
ah, but I cannot live without her.
For my heart's a boat in tow,
and I'd give the world to know.
If she means to let me go,
as I sing the whole day through.

Catarina your lovely hair,
has more beauty I declare
Than all the tresses there
from Smoketown to Oldham County.
Be they black, red, gold or brown,
let them hang to lengths below.
They mean not as much to me,
as a melting flake of snow.

And her dance is like the gleam,
of the sunlight on the stream.
And the screeching bluejays seem,
to form her name when screaming.
But my heart is full of woe,
for last night she made me go.
And the tears begin to flow,
as I sing the whole day through...