The Rail Song

I recall as a boy we would hop the freights Wasn't nothin' but a kick back then There was no better thrill for my anxious heart Than a long flatcar Headin' out of the yard And I knew even then she was in my blood Like the time when I first hired on And the fireman laughed at my bony nose But he tossed me a cap Said GM&O And I was a man... I gave her my best years Well, what can you do but laugh I don't expect she'll ever be coming back When we climbed up the great Appalachians Her engines would be raging like hell Then we'd come back down to the rising towns Where the cattle stare In the frozen air For me there nothing more sacred Than the beautiful sound she'd make Her long blue signal blowin' deep in the night, It would get to me there, It would get to me there Now I'm afraid... Afraid of these silent hours Awake underneath my old cap I don't expect she'll ever be coming back Well, I watched the beginning of the end for her When I saw my first jet airplane Flying high overhead like a bird of prey While the mighty fell In the land of the brave Now I'm alone. --- The Rail Song - Adrian Belew