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.