I don’t need to understand what this world is all about
I don’t need to find a thing that will show me there ain’t much to think about
If I tell you what I did, then I hear all my sins would be absolved
But there ain’t nothing that I’ve ever done that I wouldn’t just leave unresolved

That’s why
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
Lord, the river don’t wash me clean

I don’t need to understand what the world thinks of me
And I ain’t ever gonna change because of something that you’re never gonna be
I don’t care about what you believe, everything you tell me that I’m not
I don’t think that you can judge me, ’cause I’m not the only one that you forgot

That’s why
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
No, the river don’t wash me clean

I don’t need to understand what the world wants from me
I don’t even want to know what you always wanted me to be
If you listen and you find that I never really cared about what you think of me
And I fully comprehend that I never did become a man you wanted me to be

That’s why
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean

No

I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean (don’t wash me clean)
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean (no, the river don’t wash me)
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean (don’t wash me clean)
I go to the river, but the river don’t wash me clean

Lord have mercy, the river don’t wash me clean