Fire on the asphalt L.A. freeway
Santa Anna windstorm come blow me away
'Cause this rear view mirror could use some adjustment
Some other reflection, some other place

Oh Cumberland, I'm a faithful son
No matter where I go I hear you calling me
The Mississippi's wide long, St. Paul to New Orleans
But my heart's resting on your banks in Tennessee

Lazy ol' river not a lick of ambition
Get to Kentucky then you roll on home
If you were a highway you wouldn't go nowhere
And I wouldn't be lost and all alone

Oh Cumberland, I'm a faithful son
No matter where I go I hear you calling me
The Mississippi's wide long, St. Paul to New Orleans
But my heart's resting on your banks in Tennessee

There's a stolen river in the San Fernando
Down in the valley in the shadow of greed
But I have a memory knee deep in salvation
That old muddy water that once washed me clean

Oh Cumberland, I'm a faithful son
No matter where I go I hear you calling me
The Mississippi's wide long, St. Paul to New Orleans
But my heart's resting on your banks in Tennessee
Oh Cumberland, oh Cumberland