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Laughing River

by Greg Brown

on Dream Café (1992), If I Had Known - Essential Recordings 1980-1996 (1990), The Live One (1992)

I'm goin away
'cause I gotta busted heart
I'm leavin' today
If my Travel
All will start
And I recken where I'm headed
I might need me different clothes-
Way up in Michigan
Where the Laughing River flows
Twenty years in the minor leagues-
Ain't no place I didn't go
Well I gotta few hits
But I never made the show
And I could hang on for a few years
Doin what I've done before
I wanna hear the Laughing River
Flowin' right outside my door
My cousin Ray
Said he's got a job for me
Where the houses are cheap
And he knows this nice lady
He said she even saw me play once
Said she smiled at my name
Well upon the Laughing River
Could be a whole new game
So goodbye to the bus
Good bye to payin' dues
Goodbye to the cheers
And goodbye to the booze
Well I'm trading in this old bat
For a fishing pole
I'm gonna let the Laughing River
Flow right into my soul
[repeat first verse]