///*****/// [Intro] A slow brown river running And a rope swing on a limb [Verse 1] There was a bend below the trestle Where the current went to sleep And every kid in that whole county Learned to swim there or to sink And my brother could go under For a minute and a half And my sister broke her collarbone Off the rope in eighty-one And our mother would come calling When the light went long and low And we would pretend we did not hear her For as long as we dared to go [Pre-Chorus] And there was nothing to us then But the water and the sun And the absolute conviction That the summer had not begun [Chorus] So take me back to the water Where the trestle throws its shade Take me back to the water Where I have not been afraid I have been a lot of places And I have been a lot of men Take me back to the water And baptise me again Take me back to the water [Verse 2] I did some things in the city That I will not put in a song And there were about four years in there When I was very nearly gone And I came back for a funeral And I stayed for a night or two And I drove out to that trestle Because I had nothing else to do And I stood there on the bank In a suit and city shoes And I got in with all of it on Because I did not know what else to do [Pre-Chorus] And the cold went through the wool of me And I went under twice And I came up in the middle Of the only decent life [Chorus] So take me back to the water Where the trestle throws its shade Take me back to the water Where I have not been afraid I have been a lot of places And I have been a lot of men Take me back to the water And baptise me again Take me back to the water [Verse 3] I moved home in the autumn Which is not what people do And I took a job at the lumberyard And the money is not much But my daughter learned to swim there At the bend below the trees And she went off the rope in August And she came up with a scream And a laugh that took the whole sky And I stood there in the shallows Fifty poundsFrom the boy I left in that water [Pre-Chorus] And I put my hand out to her And she took it and she stood And she said again, Dad, again And I said yes, we surely could [Bridge] There is a place inside your childhood That will hold you if you go It does not care what you have done It does not need to know It is just water and a rope And it has been waiting all along [Guitar Solo] [Final Chorus] So take me back to the water Where the trestle throws its shade Take me back to the water Where I am not afraid I have been a lot of places And I am finally one man Take me back to the water It has taken me back again Take me back to the water [Coda] Here is to the swimming holes And the bends below the trees Here is to whatever's left of us That the water still believes May you find one in your county May you go there when you can May it hold you like it held you When you did not have a plan [Outro] A slow brown river running And a rope swing on a limb And a man out in the middle And a child jumping in
