The Rail Song Lyrics

The Rail Song lyrics

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.