The Gallopin` Goose Lyrics

The Gallopin` Goose

On a cold November mornin' 
Back in nineteen-thirty-seven 
With an early snow a-fallin' 
On the three-foot tracks at Ames 
Came a mighty strange contraption 
Known to trainmen as a motor 
But to folks in Colorado 
She was known by another name  
 
Up the canyons south of Sawpit 
Past the red Cathedral spires 
'Cross the yellow mountain switchbacks 
And the rapids far below 
On the high and lofty trestles 
Near the fabled mines of Ophir 
In the silver San Juan Mountains 
Came a goose a-plowin' snow  
 
[Chorus] 
With a Pierce-Arrow engine, 
Runnin' hot and on the loose 
Came the Rio Grande Southern 
The Gallopin' Goose 
With a Pierce-Arrow engine 
Runnin' hot and on the loose 
Came Number Five, The Gallopin' Goose  
 
'Twas a four-door auto-mobile 
On a dozen wheels of iron 
Sixteen feet of rockin' boxcar 
Spot-welded to her tail 
Loaded down with mercantile 
Ten bags a' high-grade ore 
Two mothers nursin' babies 
Seven miners an' the mail  
 
Up the side a' Sunshine Mountain 
By internal gas combustion 
Eight Pierce-Arrow pistons pullin' 
Fifteen thousand pounds a' lead 
At the snowshed on the summit 
The conductor said his prayers 
He declared a busted driveshaft 
On the pass at Lizard Head  
 
[Chorus] 
With a Pierce-Arrow engine 
Runnin' hot and on the loose 
Came the Rio Grande Southern 
The Gallopin' Goose 
With a Pierce-Arrow engine 
Runnin' hot and on the loose 
Came Number Five, The Gallopin' Goose  
 
[Musical interlude here.]  
 
Down the three-percent to Rico 
In the valley of Dolores 
They still talk about the Southern 
An' her flock of flyin' geese 
From the roundhouse at Ridgway 
To the depot at Durango 
All the tracks are gone for scrap iron 
And the ganders rest in peace  
 
Up the canyons south of Sawpit 
Past the red Cathedral spires 
'Cross the yellow mountain switchbacks 
And the rapids far below 
On the high and lofty trestles 
Near the fabled mines of Ophir 
In the silver San Juan Mountains 
There's a legend in the snow  
 
[Chorus] 
With a Pierce-Arrow engine 
Runnin' hot and on the loose 
Came the Rio Grande Southern 
The Gallopin' Goose 
With a Pierce-Arrow engine 
Runnin' hot and on the loose 
Came Number Five, The Gallopin' Goose