C G D
C G D


[Verse 1]

  D
I thought I knew what I was doing
      G
I was wrong
D
Mistakes I've made and lived to tell
  C         G    D       C  G  D
I tell them in a song



[Verse 2]

  D
I knew a river wide and deep
                    G
Her banks were very tall
D
At one end was a mountain stream
    C           G    D
The other was a waterfall, boys
    C           G    D
The other was a waterfall



[Verse 3]

  D
I asked the old man by the river
           G
He did not recall
D
The last attempt to ride a barrel
C        G    D       C  G  D
Over the waterfall



[Verse 4]

    D
The ferry boatman, he did tell me
                    G
That the chance was very small
D
None survived who went alive
C        G    D
Over the waterfall, boys
C        G    D
Over the waterfall



[Verse 5]

     D
So I built myself an oaken barrel
           G     D
And inside I did crawl
D
I broke the record but I broke my back
      C        G    D     C  G  D
Going over the waterfall



[Outro]

         D
And it's been my luck to live to tell
                G
The only tale I can
D
It don't hurt you when you fall
C         G   D            C  G  D
Only when you land, boys
C         G   D
Only when you land


C  G  D
C  G  D