[Intro: Spoken]
Friends, have you ever had it all?
The glittering gold, the fortune, the girl...
And then it was gone in one spin of the wheel!
One drop of the cards!
And one wink of an eye?
Yes—I mean no!—I mean yes!—I mean…no!
But why don’t you tell us all about it in a song form using riverboat imagery and perhaps a monkey or two?
Thank you, I will. Hit it, bass man!

[Intro]
Friends, my story is bitter and sweet
Of a gal I hope you never may meet
A woman whose luck rivals as much as she's mean
Ah! With a smile as pretty as a starry sky
She'll invite you in, then leavе you dry
She's Ravella, the rivеrboat queen

[Chorus]
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She's the infamous gambling gal from New Orleans
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams

[Verse 1]
Raised by a crackerjack hobo man
In the bucktooth hills of Alabam'
She learned the ways of the ancient game of chance!
With a suitcase full of cards and dreams
She headed for the ships of steam
To live a life of flare, gold and romance!
She wore a top hat, frills and lace
And she sang with style and grace
Like a siren from the depths of the Yankee Nile
Her tricks were extraordinaire
She drew whiskey from thin air
Shot aces in the sky with her .45 pearls

[Chorus]
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She's the infamous gambling gal from New Orleans
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams

[Verse 2]
At the age of seventeen
She made paupers out of kings
And left men begging for their pants (May I please have my pants?)
She had a monkey named Rizoo
Who often played the fool
And then picked the pockets of the gents with which she danced

She once met a man from old Cantoon
With a pocket of silver bright as the moon
And a smile shiny as a Christmas carol
After thirteen games of craps and dice
He knew she wasn't sugar and spice
And walked the gangplank home in a whiskey barrel
[Bridge]
Oh, when she plays roulette, well, she dances like a marionette
Her fingers are quick as a wink—Ha, ha, ha!
With a laugh and a sigh, well, she'll slip past your eye
And throw snake eyes into your drink

[Scatting]

[Chorus]
‘Cause she’s—
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She's the infamous gambling gal from New Orleans
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams

[Verse 3]
Her best friends were the Jack of Spades
And a bottle of Tennessee Rain
She played blackjack for days and days
While quoting Spit and Twain
Green-eyed beauty, gypsy lass
Huckleberry hussy, sassafras

(You sure got a pretty mouth.)

Moonshine mama, cotton queen
She's the luckiest gal you've ever seen!
The star of the river, she's the golden fortune dame
She dances with chance and she always wins the game
If you bet your heart it will never again be seen
She's Ravella, the riverboat queen!
[Chorus]
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She's the infamous gambling gal from New Orleans
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams

One, two!

[Chorus]
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She's the infamous gambling gal from New Orleans
Ravella! Riverboat queen!
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams
She'll steal your heart and take away your—
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams
She'll steal your heart and take away your dreams
Oh, Ravella!