Texas, 1947

Now bein' six years old I'd seen some trains before So it's hard to figure out what I'm at the depot for. Trains are big and black and smokin' steam, screamin' at the wheels Louder than anything there is, at least that's the way she feels Trains are big and black and smokin', louder than July fourth Everybody's actin' like this might be somethin' more Than just pickin' up the mail or the soldiers from the war Even somethin' that even old man Wileman's never seen before BRIDGE: And it's late afternoon on a hot Texas day Somethin' strange was goin' on and we's all in the way Well there's fifty or sixty people just sittin' on their cars And the old men left their dominoes and they come down from the bars Everybody's checkin', old Jack Kittrel checked 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 himself was rollin' down the line Cuz things got real quiet, Momma jerked me back Not before I'd got the chance to lay a nickel on the track Look out here she comes, she's comin' Look out there she goes, she's gone Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone Big an red, and silver, Lord, she don't make no smoke She's a fast-rollin' streamline come to show the folks Said look out here she comes, she's comin' Look out there she goes, she's gone Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone Lord, she never even stopped She left fifty, sixty people still sittin' on their cars Wonderin' what it's comin' to and how it got this far Me I got a nickel smashed flatter than a dime By a mad dog, runaway red-silver streamline train Chorus