Texas 1947

Being six years old
I had seen some trains before
So it’s hard to figure out
What I’m at the depot for
Trains are big and black and smoking
Steam screaming at the wheels
And bigger than anything they is
At least that’s the way she feels
Trains are big and black and smoking
Louder than July Four
But everybody’s actin' like
This might be something more
Than just picking up the mail
Or the soldiers from the war
This is something that even
Old man Wileman never seen before
And it’s late afternoon
On a hot Texas day
Something strange is going on
And we’s all in the way
There’s fifty or sixty people
Just sitting on their cars
And the old men left their dominos
And come down from the bars
And everybody is checking
Old Jack Kittrel check his watch
And us kids put our ears
To the rails to hear 'em pop
So we already knowed it
When they finally said, «Train time»
You’d a-thought that Jesus Christ
His-self was rolling down the line
Because things got real quiet
Momma jerked me back
But not before I’d got the chance
To lay a nickel on the track
Look out, here she comes, she’s coming
Look out, there she goes, she’s gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog Cyclone
Big, red, and silver
She don’t make no smoke
She’s a fast-rollin' streamline
Come to show the folks
Look out, here she comes, she’s coming
Look out, there she goes, she’s gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog Cyclone
Lord, she never even stopped
But she left fifty or sixty people
Still sitting on their cars
Wondering what it’s coming to
And how it got this far
But me, I got a nickel
Smashed flatter than a dime
By a mad dog runaway
Red-silver streamline train
Look out, here she comes, she’s coming
Look out, there she goes, she’s gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog Cyclone
Big, red, and silver
She don’t make no smoke
She’s a fast-rollin' streamline
Come to show the folks
Look out, here she comes, she’s coming
Look out, there she goes, she’s gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog Cyclone
Look out, here she comes, she’s coming
Look out, there she goes, she’s gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog Cyclone
Look out, here she comes, she’s coming
Look out, there she goes, she’s gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog Cyclone