Use Up the Rivers
Words by Zion Valencic © 2026-05-28, music by Kathy Mar
TTTO Drink Up the River by Kathy Mar


D                                  G                   D
I was sitting by a river, when the thought occurred to me,
             G                 D              A
There's a hundred thousand dollars flowing right into the sea.
            D                            G                D
I know that rivers are a bounty, giving dough to good and bad
        G              D                 A                   D
So I’ll use them up to make a buck, and make those poor folk mad.
         C                             D
Some are dammed or irrigated, some are used as dumping grounds,
          C                          A
Some just dry up themselves when the rain don’t make its rounds,
             D                                  G               D
So when the rivers in my state get low, and I’m worried for my lawn
           G         D        A            D
I’m gonna use up the rivers until they're gone.

               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.
               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A             D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.

D                                         G                  D
And all through our nation's history, her times of peace and war,
      G               D             A
We’ve used up all our resources, polluted every shore.
        D                                  G                   D
We must each work for our fortune, so I’ll steal from workers’ plates.
  G               D                 A                   D
Exploiting all we see and know will make this country great.
             C                           D
If there are laws that say I can’t, I’ll just pass other laws,
     C                          A
It’s never hard to sneak in a money making clause.
    D                                      G               D
The people, they may protest, but they’ll vote for me come dawn,
           G         D        A            D
I’m gonna use up the rivers until they're gone.

               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.
               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A             D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.

      D                          G                   D
We’re surrounded by technology—a flood that’s rising still,
        G         D              A
We must power datacenters or the Chinese surely will.
        D                                 G                D
All our large language models, they will make our profits soar,
      G             D               A           D
As we spy on our consumers and the nations we deplore.
         C                             D
I won’t listen to the scientists who warn of rising heat,
          C                                  A
Those who scream their drinking water is the color of the street,
     D                                     G                D
When protests form and people yell, I will wave at them and yawn,
           G         D        A            D
I’m gonna use up the rivers until they're gone.

               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.
               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A             D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.

          D                      G                D
There’s a river of humanity, and they all need to eat,
      G               D                   A
Its important that we all grow crops within the deserts' heat.
   D                       G            D
So I will grow alfalfa and also lots of hay,
        G            D          A               D
I can sell it all to China and earn some decent pay.
         C                             D
There were rivers all around us, and a salty lake of note,
    C                             A
And when they’re gone its arsenic will fill the Utahns’ throats
    D                                        G                 D
But that’s all right, ’cause I can move, and they are all just pawns:
           G         D        A            D
I’m gonna use up the rivers until they're gone.

               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.
               D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers,
              G          D       A             D
	I'm gonna use up the rivers, until they’re gone.