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 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 making me brave Daddy's gone, my brother's out huntin' in the mountains Big John's been drinkin' since the river took Annie-Lou So the powers that he left me here to do the thinkin' And I just turned twenty-two I was wonderin' what to do The closer it got the more those feelings grew Daddy's rifle in my hand felt re-assurin' He told me,"Red means run son, numbers add up to nothing" But when the first shot hit the dock I saw it comin' Raised my rifle to my eye Never stopped to wonder why Then I saw black and my face flash in the sky Shelter me from the Powder and the Finger Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger Just think of me as one you never feared You fade away so young There's so much left undone Remember me for my love, I know I miss her