I went to Kentucky to see all my friends
for a family reunion, although we’re not kin.
Way down in Knott County, where the Troublesome starts
in the small town of Hindman that holds half my heart.

We gathered together as friends like to do
for songs and for laughter and a story or two.
We told all the same jokes again and again
so our spirits weren’t dampened when it started to rain.

Chorus:   
I’ve been through the sorrow myself
I know dirty water’s the way that Hell smells
it ain’t fire and brimstone, it’s mildew and mud
it’s your tears in the darkness after the flood.

Some went to bed early, some stayed up ‘til two,
‘til the going to bed was all there was left to do.
Early that morning, while we were asleep,
the creek once just inches, grew twenty feet deep.

We huddled together up on higher ground;
someone had a bottle, so we passed it around.
I can’t bear to sing of the sobering sight
that lay there before us in the dawns early light.

Chorus

Some came back days later and what did they see?
What was under water was strewn with debris.
With clothes and with lumber and heating oil tanks
and the troublesome Troublesome back in its banks.

I’m from West Virginia, way up in the hills
I’m from North Carolina with its factories and mills.
I’m from Knoxville and Danville; I’m from prairies and plains
I’m from eastern Kentucky whenever it rains.

Chorus

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