Charley Pride Sings "Roll On Mississippi"

Charley Pride, 1981
Wikipedia

Like most 'white' folks who grew up in America's backwoods regions of the Sixties and Seventies, I loved Charley Pride's voice on country music radio long before I realized he was African-American! Finding out was a surprise, though it only whetted my interest.

But I lost contact with country music for a while, so I missed his 1981 hit, "Roll On Mississippi" -- written by Rhonda Kye Fleming and Dennis W. Morgan -- until 1986, when I heard it on the radio while I was staying in Fribourg, Switzerland. Here are the lyrics (or listen here as you follow along):

Walking along, whistling a song,
bare foot and fancy free
A big riverboat, passing us by, she's headed for New Orleans
There she goes, disappearing around a bend
Roll on Mississippi, you make me feel like a child again

Cool river breeze, like peppermint leaves, the taste of it takes me back
Chewing on a straw, torn overalls,
Cane pole and old straw hat,
Muddy river, just like a long lost friend
Roll on Mississippi, you make me feel like a child again

Roll on Mississippi, big river roll
You're the childhood dream, I grew up on
Roll on Mississippi, carry me home
Now I can see I've been away too long
Roll on, Mississippi, roll on

When the world's spinning round, too fast for me,
I need a place to dream
So I come to your banks, I sit in your shade,
And relive the memories
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Roll on Mississippi, you make me feel like a child again

Roll on Mississippi, big river roll
You're the childhood dream that I grew up on
Roll on Mississippi, carry me home
Now I can see I've been away too long
Roll on, Mississippi,

Roll on, Mississippi, roll on
Roll on, Mississippi, roll on
Roll on, Mississippi, roll on

Ah, nostalgia, that magic of country music. I didn't grow up along the Mississippi, but that great river defined the eastern border of Arkansas, and I always identified with the hillbilly Huck Finn and his Big River adventures.

And my family crossed that river last night on their way to the Ozarks . . .