D5                      A5
I'll never swim Kern River again.
A5
It was there that I met her.
A5                                E5      E5
It was there that I lost my best friend.
          D5
And now I live in the mountains.
  C#5                      D5
I drifted up here with the wind.
          A5
And I may drown in still water,
         E5                      A5
But I'll never swim Kern River again.     VERSE
       A5
I grew up in an oil town,
       D5                 A5
But my gusher never came in.
           A5
And the river was a boundary
A5                               E5    ( E5 ) E5
Where my  darlin' and I used to swim.


A5
One night in the moonlight
D5                              A5
The swiftness swept here life away.
A5
And now I live on Lake Shasta and
A5    E5                      A5
Lake Shasta is where I will stay.
       A5
There's  the South San Joaquin,
          D5                          A5
Where the seeds of the dust bowl are found.
A5
And there's a place called Mount Whitney
A5                                      E5   ( E5 ) E5
>From where the mighty Kern River comes down.
           A5
Well, it's not  deep nor wide,
A5          D5                      A5
But it's a mean piece of water my friend.
A5
And I may cross on the highway,
         E5                     A5
But I'll never swim Kern River again     

CHORUS