C                  F
Mama said don't go near that river
C                                   G7
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John
C                        F
But come the morning I'd always be there
C                           G7          C
Walking in his footsteps in sweet delta dawn


[Verse]

       F                C
Let me dream of another morning
      F            C
And a time so long ago
         F               C
When the sweet magnolias blossomed
                       G7              C
And the cotton fields....were white as snow


[Verse]

        F                C
Catfish John was a river hobo
             F                 C
He lived and died on the river bend
         F              C
Thinking back I still remember
             G7          C
I was proud....to be his friend


[Chorus]

C                  F
Mama said don't go near that river
C                                   G7
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John
C                        F
But come the morning I'd always be there
C                           G7          C
Walking in his footsteps in sweet delta dawn


[Verse]

       F                    C
Born a slave in the town of Vicksburg
       F              C
Traded for a chestnut mare
         F                     C
Still he never spoke a word in anger
                 G7            C
Though his load....was hard to bear


[Chorus]

C                  F
Mama said don't go near that river
C                                   G7
Don't be hanging around old Catfish John
C                        F
But come the morning I'd always be there
C                           G7          C
Walking in his footsteps in sweet delta dawn


[Outro]
                     F
Come the morning I'd always be there
C                           G7          C
Walking in his footsteps in sweet delta dawn