There was a blind boy in Memphis, Tennessee Who heard the savior call but he could not see him He walked along the river's edge Among the weeds and the red clay bed And he thought that he might follow him Thought that he might follow him He was walking with a can of warm beer in his hand And singing, “Whole Lotta Love†Cicadas they were groaning in the trees Weaving drunkenly up toward the sun And he walked under the swollen sky And felt the weight of what it was Oh blind river boy Blind river boy Where are you going to tonight He had a thought that he might stop and rest Under the weeping willow limbs And he decided to go wading And he left his boots and hat there on the ledge And he found his feet out walking Where the water bloomed a brilliant red chorus He went into his waist and the water curled around him in a wake All the water singing ‘round him What a lovely sound the water makes what a lovely sound the water makes Tenderly lifted like a woman in her lover's gentle arms The river pulled him under and he heard a tugboat far off call And a panic rose inside of him he knew he was in terrible terrible harm And now he's headed like a prayer to be spoken at the river's deepest sound chorus