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
There's a buckskin highway headed north
Your choice is east or west
At that lonely river town where the barfly knows you best
I'll never know why we came to Wise River
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
And that lonesome wind blows bitter
Now if you're weary, they don't mind you passing through
Those seats are for the cowboys though
They ain't for me or you
It was the wrath of a man near one hundred years ago
Can't you hear the ghosts of miners wail
In the hell they dug below
Now one thing marks the 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
And that lonesome wind blows bitter
Something colder is growing me older than she
She could share this, an heiress of copper and wheat
And if they forgive their folly in the fields
We may find her there asleep
Oh well they lost it all, one shot at fortune's fame
Only the rivers are left for digging 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
I'll always know why we came to Wise River
Where the snow can fall like cannonballs
And the lonesome wind blows bitter