[spoken] Way out in the canyons of the west, there's a wild river. the spanish named it san buenaventura; but we knew it as the green.
It was daylight on the river but we couldn't see the sun And we couldn't hear our voices through the roar But we felt the boilin' current and our blood was runnin' cold As we headed down the canyon of lodore And the gods were runnin' with us On the day we ran the rapids of the green
[chorus] And we died a thousand times in that forty miles of hell The longest day of life we'd ever seen But we lived to tell the story and we know the story well The day we ran the rapids of the green
We were thirty-two in number when we gathered on the shore And we headed off into the great unknown But we summoned up our courage an' we formed a mighty team And we ran that ragin' river all alone Yeah, the gods were runnin' with us On the day we ran the rapids of the green
[echoing shouts.]
And we hear a thousand echoes on the mighty canyon walls As we shouted from the waters far below And we saw the ancient warnings and we heard the ghostly cries Of the men who ran the river long ago And we prayed that they were with us On the day we ran the rapids of the green
[echoing shouts.]
Now the memories are swirlin' in the eddies of our minds But the waters of the green are flowin' clear And the canyon of lodore will be a long remembered tale To be told around the campfires through the years Yeah, the gods were runnin' with us On the day we ran the rapids of the green
[chorus] And we died a thousand times in that forty miles of hell The longest day of life we'd ever seen But we lived to tell the story and we know the story well The day we ran the rapids of the green