My Dirty Stream (The Hudson River Song) - Pete Seeger

Sailing down my dirty stream

Still I love it and I’ll keep the dream

That some day, though maybe not this year

My Hudson River will once again run clear

It starts high in the mountains of the north

Crystal clear and icy trickles forth

With just a few floating wrappers of chewing gum

Dropped by some hikers to warn of things to come

At Glens Falls, five thousand honest hands

Work at the consolidated paper plant

Five million gallons of waste a day

Why should we do it any other way?

Down the valley one million toilet chains

Find my Hudson so convenient place to drain

And each little city says, «Who, me?

Do you think that sewage plants come free?»

Out in the ocean they say the water’s clear

But I live right at Beacon here

Half way between the mountains and sea

Tacking to and fro, this thought returns to me

Well it’s Sailing up my dirty stream

Still I love it and I’ll dream

That some day, though maybe not this year

My Hudson and my country will run clear