Yeah a mile around the bend down the Ohio 
Comin up the river for the Sunday show 
There's a tuba and a banjo and a steam calliope 
Sittin on the deck of the big paddlewheel 
What a thrill it must have been play in Dixie for the folks 
Up and down the river on the first showboat 
What a thrill it must have been play in Dixie for the folks 
Up and down the river on the first showboat 

Yeah well poppa took the kids, momma took the lunch 
The gents took the belles and the whiskey took the drunks 
But the biggest thrill of all you know it had to be 
Way up front playin steam calliope 

What a thrill it must have been play in Dixie for the folks 
Up and down the river on the first showboat 
What a thrill it must have been playin Dixie for the folks 
Up and down the river on the first showboat 

Yeah there's magic in the air riddle in the rhymes 
Slow and easy in the summertime 
Yeah an who'd a ever thought it could come to be 
That Jim Crows flyin where the eagle ought to be