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The Riverboat Song

from Songs We Made Up by The Matchsellers

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a card case with an 8-page color booklet designed by Julie Bates and printed/assembled by Nuvidia in Overland Park, Kansas.

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about

A true story about a 3-month adventure Julie's dad took in 1981

lyrics

Now Tom F. Bates, he went away
On one very fateful day
But he didn’t fly or hit the road
He rode away on a riverboat

Now the boat was called the Eulenspiegel
No one knew if it was legal
It was made from a bunch of trash
It was cheap and it didn’t go fast

Said goodbye mother and goody bye father
And goodbye sister and goodbye brother
And to his dog he said, adios!
And he went away on a riverboat

He started out from Kansas City
Went down that old Missouri
Switched out to the Mississippi
When he got to St. Louis

When he wanted to get himself clean
He had to take off all his clothing
He was butt-naked but he didn’t mind
He jumped in the river and he had a good time

Now people do ask him, why’d you do it?
Tom F. Bates just smiles a little bit
He says doesn’t it sound like fun to go
Down a crooked river on a riverboat?

credits

from Songs We Made Up, released February 12, 2016

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The Matchsellers Kansas City, Kansas

Clever and fearless, The Matchsellers boldly go where Bluegrass has previously feared to tread. Hailing from the heartland of America, they infuse traditional roots music with a modern, irreverent, wild, art-house twist that could only come out of Kansas City. ... more

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