It's not the thousand years of wanton waste
Nor the desert sun that's burning
Or a fire like no other
That's gonna stop this world a-turning

Not the ministers with wisdom
Or the Unions with their might
Oh they'll still be fighting
Over who was wrong or right

Nor the innocents amongst us
Would be robbed of life and blood
By the one who saw the tide
Come turning back upon the flood

There is a river still to cross
And the only thing to say is
It don't have to be that way
There is a river still to cross
And the bridges of tomorrow
Are the troubles of today
That are washed away

It's not the captains nor the teachers
Nor the prophets who command
That everbody's party to this sick and savage land
Where ignorance comes easy and the hardest thing to find
Is a man born of a woman who is every bit as kind
And when the first thing every newborn child does is to cry
May it all be damned my friend, but you surely can't deny

There is a river still to cross
And the only thing to say is
It don't have to be that way
There is a river still to cross
And the bridges of tomorrow
Are the troubles of today

So listen up you honest men
And let you speak your mind
If you cannot then neither can
The next men down the line
And you politicians of the day
Who swear that it's all right
Brace yourselves to face the fire
Of a land you can't deny
Well there'll be quaking and burning and undying yearning
Consuming, accusing and crippling unneeded and weeping and leeding

There is a river still to cross
And the only thing to say is
It don't have to be that way
There is a river still to cross
And the bridges of tomorrow
Are the troubles of today

There is a river still to cross
And the bridges of tomorrow
Are the troubles of today
That are washed away