I remember being richer than a king   The minutes of the day were golden   I recall that when the joint passed 'round   My body felt a little colder      But now I'm like a sewer channel   Running lime and scag   Let me get at the master panel   Let me at my stack      The sea refuses no river   And right now   This river's banks are blown      The sea refuses no river   Whether stinking and rank   Or red from the tank      Whether pure as a spring   There's no damn thing stops the poem   The sea refuses no river   And this river is homeward flowing      I have seen a trace of strain   In other's eyes, not spoken   I must admit that I enjoyed their pain   But this time it's me that's broken      I demand for you and His   This must be the time   When we decide what freedom is   Turn water into wine      For the sea refuses no river   We're polluted now   But in our hearts still clean      The sea refuses no river   We tried not to age   But time had it's rage   We're washed over the stones      From babies into clones of the mean   The sea won't refuse this muddy river   Won't deny the sulfurous stream      There was a fool in a dressing robe   Riding out the twilight hour   Lonely and cold in an empty home   Trying to assess his power      But now he's like a stream in flood   Swollen by the storm   He doesn't care if he sheds his blood   Let him be reborn      The sea refuses no river   Remember that   When the beggar buys a round      The sea refuses no river   And rain fills the gutters   No time for stutters      This is our chance   To sing and to dance and to clown   The sea refuses no river   And rivers were sprung to drown      The sea refuses no river   No pecking code   Respected for the damned      The sea refuses no river   Whether starving and ill   Or strung on some pill   Just 'cos you own the land   There's no unique hand plugs the dam      The sea refuses no river   And the river is where I am   The river is where I am