Railroads And Riverboats

The railroads and the riverboats That bred the mighty men That we read about and we dream about The men who built this land And the farmers and the lumbermen And the men who work the mills And the poor hard workin' miners Who died inside the hill [Chorus] While the rivers that flow Are the blood of our land And the trucks they keep rumbling On the great concrete band And the railroads keep pushin' To be all they once were And nature is calling No one's listening to her And the immigrants by the boat load in a dozen different tongues Sang of freedom in the new land Climb the ladder rung by rung Some to Boston, some to Pittsburgh Philadelphia and St. Paul And the old ways led to new days They were welcome one and all [Chorus] With the railroads and the riverboats And the breadlines far behind And the days we sang together long gone but still in mind And the men who came before us Men who brought us to today And the story still unravels from the dreams of yesterday [Chorus] --- Railroads and Riverboats - Jim Croce and Ingrid Croce