Railroad Song

When I was a boy

in the days of the train

I'd sit by the tracks

on a long summer day

And I'd wave to the brakeman

And he'd wave back at me

While the thunderclouds rolled

out of East Tennessee

But the dreams of a boy

disappear when you're grown

And though I may dream

the railroads are gone

The ties they are rotten

and the tracks shot to hell

Along with my dreams

and the old railroad bell

In my dreams I ride

the rails to California

Workin' diners and farms along the way

Or I'd hop to ride to

hide across the border

With a black eyed girl

beside me all the way

Now the mountains are silent

and the railroads are gone

And the coal towns no longer

hear the miners at dawn

But the train whistle shrills

out her memories to me

While the thunderclouds rolled

out of East Tennessee

In my dreams I ride the

rails to California

Workin' diners and farms

along the way

Or I'd hop a ride to

hide across the border

With a black eyed girl

beside me all the way

Now the mountains are silent

and the railroads are gone

And the coal towns no longer

hear the miners at dawn

But the train whistle shrills

out her memories to me

While the thunderclouds roll

out of East Tennessee