I'll never swim kern river again It was there that I met him There that I lost my best friend Now I live in the mountains I drifted up here with the wind And I may drown in still water But I'll never swim kern river again He grew up in an oil town But that gusher never came in And the river was a boundary Where my darling and I used to swim One night in the moonlight The swiftness swept his life away Now I live on lake shasta And lake shasta is where I will stay There's the south san joaquin Where the seeds of the dust bowl are found And there's a place called mt. Whitney From where the mighty kern river comes down Now it's not deep nor wide But it's a mean piece of water my friend And I may cross on the highway But I'll never swim kern river again I'll never swim kern river again It was there that I met him There that I lost my best friend Now I live in the mountains I drifted up here with the wind And I may drown in still water But I'll never swim kern river again I'll never swim kern river again It was there that I met him There that I lost my best friend Now I live in the mountains I drifted up here with the wind And I may cross on the highway But I'll never swim kern river again No, I'll never swim kern river again
