Mondays With Merle: Kern River I'll never swim Kern River again It was there that I met her It was there that I lost my best friend And now I live in the mountains I drifted up here with the wind And I may drown in still water But I'll never swim Kern River again I grew up in an oil town But my gusher never came in And the river was a boundary Where my darlin' and I used to swim One night in the moonlight The swiftness swept her life away And now I live on Lake Shasta And Lake Shasta is where I