I met you in '82, over a crate of beer and not a few
I cracked a can and so did you, we're gonna change the world
The ghetto kings of downside town and the estates and parks of our hallowed ground
Doing anything that we found, and on the river flowed

You'd take a drink from the Rev. Jimmy Jones
You'd cross the street on the path the gunman roams
Thrown aside and left to waste, that was you and you knew your place
Wander round, get off your face, and on the river flowed

On and on the riverflow and we're the undertow
On and on the riverflow and we're the undertow

I don't know how you made it through all the smoke and brew you do
It sure has left its mark on you, but you're still with us today
Life goes on and round we go and words can kill these things I know
Sometimes you cut me deeply so, but on the river flows

You'd set the table for the barber Sweeney Todd
You'd clip the wings of any rising god
But man can't live on hope alone, it can be cut, all that is grown
Broke your spirit but not your bones, and on the the river flows

On and on the riverflow and we're the undertow
On and on the riverflow and we're the undertow
You're working now and forced to the race
I know it left a bitter taste
But the rising tide has covered your face
Nothing you can do
But I still remember the day you said
That river flowing through my head
Would take me far or leave me dead
And all you said was true