E C#m E C#m A E B
E C#m E C#m A B E

[Verse 1]
         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

[Verse 2]
             E             C#m
There’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

[Chorus]
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

[Instr]
E C#m E C#m A E B
E C#m E C#m A B E

[Verse 3]
            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’s hood
          E           C#m
’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

[Verse 4]
       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

[Chorus]
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...

[Lead Break]
C#m
F#7 F#m7
C#m
F#7 F#m7 G#
C#m
F#7 F#m7
C#m
F#7 F#m7 G#
A B E C#m
E C#m A B E

[Verse 5]
        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

[Chorus]
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