Song Lyrics

(Ko-ko Joe)
(Ko-ko Joe)
(Ko-ko Joe)

Go ahead home
(Ko-ko Joe)
Up in Appaloosa county
There's a place called Ko-ko Ridge

Sittin' right on the bend
On the Etowah River
Where the water washed away the bridge

Cotton Mouth Country
(Ko-ko Joe)
A river rat's knee high
(Ko-ko Joe)
Way up around the back border
Lived a man
That the river folks talked about

They said you better stay away from Ko-ko Joe
'Cause he's cause he's crazy no account

(Ko-ko Joe)
Ko-ko Joe
They called him the Etowah River swamp rat
The folks despised him

(Ko-ko Joe)
Ko-ko Joe
He was an awfully peculiar man
The river was his only friend

And the folks didn't understand
The man called Ko-ko Joe
(Ko-ko Joe)

He'd eat monkey meat and mashed potatoes
He drunk a brew called Mo-jo Claw
That he beat outa roots from old dead stumps
On the banks of the Etowah

Made him walk a little funny
(Ko-ko Joe)
Made his breath smell funky
(Ko-ko Joe)
Well he never come across the river
'Cause the folks didn't like him in town

They said his hair was long
His clothes were dirty
They didn't want him hangin' around

Ko-ko Joe
They called him the Etowah River swamp rat
The folks despised him

(Ko-ko Joe)
Ko-ko Joe
He was an awfully peculiar man
The river was his only friend

And the folks didn't understand
The man called Ko-ko Joe
(Ko-ko Joe)

Well it happened a year ago Sunday
And they still talk about it today
How the dam broke loose
On the Etowah River
Nearly washin' everybody away

The river water rising
(Ko-ko Joe)
Washin' up all the bushes
(Ko-ko Joe)
Well the headlines said
How a mother said, my son woulda lost his life
But he was pulled from the mud in the Etowah River
By the man y'all despised

(Ko-ko Joe)
Ko-ko Joe
They called him the Etowah River swamp rat
The folks despised him

(Ko-ko Joe)
Ko-ko Joe
So be careful what you say, my friend
About folks you don't understand
Someday you might need a man like Ko-ko Joe

Go ahead home son
(Ko-ko Joe)
Ko-ko Joe
They called him the Etowah River swamp rat
The folks despised him (Ko-ko Joe)

Jerry Hubbard Reed