Mark Twain Lyrics

Many years ago on the Mississippi riverboats They had men called gaugers And the job of a gauger was to hang off the side of the boat with one hand And in the other hand he had a ball of twine with a hunk a lead on the end of it He?d wield the lead above his head And let it fly into the river Wherever the water marked the twine He?d call up to the skipper and say Marking on the twine is four fathoms ?Cause then and there, year after year It was getting pretty monotonous Until in the 18 hundreds a little man Came along and revolutionized the Whole gauging industry Instead of saying marking on the twine He cut it short and said Mark twain And in between each marking he?d Fill it in with a little pattern about himself And his every day life Well if you?d been livin? at that time Coming up from a distance on the Mississippi It would have sounded like this Mark Twain four fathoms off the starboard bow I got a gal named Cindy-Lou Feeds me gin and bake beans too Mark Twain, Mark Twain Three fathoms off the starboard bow I got a friend his name is Pete, sings dirty songs down on Beel street Mark Twain, Mark Twain two fathoms off the starboard bow I?ve been working the river since '92 I get a penny a day and bad liquor too Mark Twain I won?t save my money Till the day I die They gonna bury me all but my good right eye Mark twain, Mark Twain No fathoms off the starboard bow Look out skipper pull it to the side You gonna bust your bow and split your hide Oh great God we done run it down Skipper gonna chase me with a big blood hound Mark Twain