Baby's gone and I don't know why
She let out this morning
Like a rusty shot in a hollow sky
She left me without warningSooner than the dogs could bark
Faster than the sun rose
Down to the banks on an old mule car
She took a flatboat 'cross the shallowLeft me in my tears to drown
She left a baby daughter
Now the river's wide and deep and brown
She's crossing muddy watersTobacco standing in the fields
Be rotten, come November
And a bitter heart will not reveal
A spring that love remembersWhen that sweet brown girl of mine
Hair, black eyes are raven
We broke the bread and drank the wine
From a jug that she'd been savingLeft me in my tears to drown
She left a baby daughter
Now the river's wide and deep and brown
And she's crossing muddy watersBaby's crying and the daylight's gone
That big oak tree is groaning
In a rush of wind and a river of song
I can hear my true love moaningCrying for her baby child
Or crying for her husband
Crying for that rivers wild
To take her from her loved onesLeft me in my tears to drown
She left a baby daughter
Now the river's wide and deep and brown
And she's crossing muddy watersNow the river's wide and deep and brown
And she's crossing muddy waters