[Verse 1]
I am the shaker
You're my hammer in the frost
Don't you sing of rivers now
The ones I'll never cross
And if I sing along
Will that river make me wise?
Craft another melody
We'll holler at sunrise

[Chorus]
There's a buck-skin highway headed north
The choice is east or west
At that lonely river town
Where the bar-fly knows you best
I'll never know why we came to Wise River
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
That lonesome wind blows bitter

[Verse 2]
Now if you're weary
Well, they don't mind you passin' through
Those seats are for the cowboys though
They ain't for me or you
It was the wrath of a man
Near one hundered years ago
Can't you hear the ghost of miners wail
In the hell they dug below?
[Chorus]
Now one thing marks for reason
And another's on my mind
That one thing lasts forever
And that's the darkness in their eyes
I'll never know why we came to Wise River
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
That lonesome wind blows bitter

[Bridge]
Somethin' colder is growin' me older than she
She could share this, an heiress of copper and wheat
And if they forgive the folly in their fields
They may find her there asleep

[Verse 3]
Oh, well, they lost it all
One shot at fortune's fame
Only the river's left for diggin', boys
And they'll fly to jump your claim
It ain't the storms that blow
That'll make you dread the road
It's the distance that grows heavy now
Beneath the weight of snow

[Chorus]
I'll always know why we came to Wise River
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
That lonesome wind blows bitter
I'll always know why we came to Wise River
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
And that lonesome wind blows bitter
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
That lonesome wind blows bitter