Powderfinger 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.

• Artist:Neil Young
• Album:Rust Never Sleeps (1979)