Key:
Introduction: E C#m E C#m A E B E C#m E C#m A B E
E C#m
Nineteen hundred and oh-one
E C#m
There beneath the August sun
A E B
A daring survey undertaken on the fly
E C#m
Colorado would request
E C#m
Divert the river water west
A B E
For the Uncompahgre Valley was too dry
E C#m
There&rsquo d been one attempt before
E C#m
And they needed to know more
A E B
Than what Bryant saw from base camps on the rim
E C#m
When the challenge whet their thirst
E C#m
Two men planned to be the first
A B E
To take the canyon floor route cut from deep within
E B A E B
There's only one way the water flows
E B A E B
Through a passage no one knows
E C#m
Heading down the canyon black
E C#m
They could never turn their back
A B E
Staring down the barrel of the Gunnison
E C#m
The journey started as they planned
E C#m
With support from a third man
A E B
Who hiked the old trail high above the river&rsquo s hood
E C#m
&rsquo Til they came upon a narrow
E C#m
At the jaws of the Falls of Sorrow
A B E
With one way out, they took the only way they could
E C#m
Diving deep into the churn
E C#m
Maybe never to return
A E B
The pair could only hope to breathe the air again
E C#m
The angry river turned and tossed
E C#m
And the two might have been lost
A B E
Deep below the surface of the Gunnison
E B A E B
There's only one way the water flows
E B A E B
Through a passage no one knows
E C#m
Heading down the canyon black
E C#m
They could never turn their back
A B E
Staring down the barrel of the Gunnison
C#m
Gunnison...
E C#m
Now the story has been told
E C#m
And while the river still runs cold
A E B
The water gets to where it once had never been
E C#m
As for whether they escaped
E C#m
They made it out just bruised and scraped
A B E
The two men never would forget the Gunnison
E B A E B
There's only one way the water flows
E B A E B
Through a passage no one knows
E C#m
Heading down the canyon black
E C#m
They could never turn their back
A B E
Staring down the barrel of the Gunnison
A B E
Staring down the barrel of the Gunnison