I'm backing up the lorry, can't wait for night to come I'm sweeping out the back yard on a Friday afternoon We'll gather round the players and we'll head off for the stars Pack the van with poetry, drums and the guitars We'll take Billy for the whisky, Willie for the door We'll take Mary Kate and Lizzy for the dancing round the floor We'll turn this empty hall into a city full of lights And lift the summer spirits through the pa**ing of the night There was laughing, and there were tears There were so many shattered hopes and dreams But there was treasure and 40 years In the place where the rivers run We'll hammer on the two-step, we'll lay it on the snare Romancing the accordion, waltzing out the aires These sacred swaying anthems, within our lover's grasp Stripping down the willow to the footsteps of the past
There was laughing, and there were tears There were so many shattered hopes and dreams But there was treasure and 40 years In the place where the rivers run We were kings and queens, the reels go round It's the badge of our culture, say it loud And it's all in the gift of the young and the proud In the place where the rivers run We're loading out the back door, now the hour is come Driving through the black hills with the red and rising sun There's a river and a distance, far as eyes can see Home by Kyle and Broadford round by Memphis Tennessee There was laughing, and there were tears There were so many shattered hopes and dreams But there was treasure and 40 years In the place where the rivers run In the place where the rivers run In the place where the rivers run