Lyrics

BOAT ACROSS THE RIVER

I got me a brand-new rowboat
It ain’t exactly brand new but it’s new to me
Needs a lot of work but that’s what I do best
Gonna get her up and ready and worthy for the sea

And I got me a brand-new woman
She ain’t exactly brand new not even to me
She lives across the water
She got a son and she got a daughter
And she got a heart the size of Kansas just a waiting on me

So, I row my Boat Across the River
And give her all a man can give her
I’ll crawl through fields I’ll cut through farms
And when I get there she’ll rock me in her arms
When I row my Boat Across the River

We had a thing back when we were younger
But it really didn’t take too well I guess the stars weren’t right
We did some growing up, yeah
And pretty soon now I’ll be showing up there
“The kids are with their Daddy,” she said. “I need to see you tonight.”

So, I row my Boat Across the River
And give her all a man can give her
I’ll crawl through fields I’ll cut through farms
And when I get there she’ll rock me in her arms
When I row my Boat Across the River

No matter who I loved or where I was living
She was always dancing round on the edge of my mind
We both made our share of mistakes but all is forgiven
We’re all growed up now, we might just get it right this time

So, I row my Boat Across the River
And give her all a man can give her
I’ll crawl through fields I’ll cut through farms
And when I get there she’ll rock me in her arms
When I row my Boat Across the River

Yeah,I 'm gonna row this Boat Across the River
And give her all a man can give her
I’ll crawl through fields I’ll cut through farms
And when I get there she’ll rock me in her arms
When I row my Boat Across the River
When I row my Boat Across the River
When I row my Boat Across the River


WRITING: Summer of 1997. I was seeing a divorced woman who had a son and a daughter and lived across the Connecticut River from me. One day, over the phone, we decided to go to our respective closest points across from each other by the river banks. We were about five to six hundred feet apart waving across the river and yelling back and forth. I came up with this sometime shortly later. It was the second flat-out country song I’d written. It was a two-verse song for a long time, but then I wrote and recorded a third verse for it in 2021, because my friend, Rich Cahillane did a version of this song on his solo record, Tall Tale of Hope and Heartache, in 2020 and he wrote his own third verse. He said, “You gotta have a third verse, a payoff verse.” And he was right. So, he inspired me to write my own to finish it.

RECORDING: Started recording it with Matty Cullen in 2009 at the beginning of the Crayons sessions. This recording is built primarily on those tracks. Over the years, I messed with it until I got it to a decent place. There are a bunch of unused violin tracks from 2010 by Sam Barnes on this session that I ended up not using.

11/06/09 - Drum Program, Acoustic, Lead Vox, Back Ground Vox (wik Matt Cullen)
11/09/09 - Bass, 12-String Acoustic, Vocals (wik Matt Cullen)
11/11/09 - Electric Guitar (wik Matt Cullen)
06/01/10 - Violin (Sam Barnes wik Matt Cullen - unused)
02/09/15 – Piano, Faux Accordion, Electric Guitar
02/10/15 - Guitar Solo
02/13/15 - Lead Vocals (redo)
02/14/15 - Clavinet (intro unused)
08/25/17 – Background Vocals, New Drum Programming
08/10/21 – Lead Vocals (redo) Background Vocals (redo)
08/14/21 - Electric Guitar (fills)
05/20/23 - Organ, Tambourine
05/22/23 - Pump Organ
09/12/23 - Electric Guitar (stabs)
12/15/23- Drums (Tommy Diehl)
12/18/23 - Mixing (Danny Bernini)

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