Powderfinger lyrics

Song information

Artist: Neil Young
Album: Weld

Lyrics

Look out, mama
There's a white boat
Comin' up the river
With a big red beacon
And a flag
And a man on the rail
I think you'd better call john
'Cause it don't
Look like they're here
To deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side
And a gun
And it's makin' big waves
Daddy's gone
My brother's out hunting
In the mountains
Big john's been drinking
Since the river took emmy-lou
So the powers that be
Left me here
To do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
And the closer they got
The more those feelings grew
Daddy's rifle in my hand
Felt reassurin'
He told me
Red means run, son
Numbers add up to nothin'
But when the first shot
Hit the docks I saw it comin'
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why
Then I saw black
And my face splashed in the sky
Shelter me from the powder
And the finger
Cover me with the thought
That pulled the trigger
Think of me
As one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love
I know I'll miss her