| When I was a boy in the days of the train
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| I’d sit by the tracks on a long summer day
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| And I’d wave at the brakesman
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| And he’d wave back at me
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| While the thunderclouds rolled
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| Out of East Tennessee
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| But the dreams of a boy disappear when you’re grown
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| And though I may dream, the railroads are gone
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| The ties they are rotten
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| And the tracks shot to hell
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| Along with my dreams and the old railroad bell
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| In my dreams I ride the rails to California
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| Workin' diners and farms along the way
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| Or I’d hop a ride to hide across the border
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| With a black eyed girl beside me all the way
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| Now the mountains are silent
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| And the railroads are gone
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| And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn
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| But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me
|
| While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee
|
| In my dreams I ride the rails to California
|
| Workin' diners and farms along the way
|
| Or I’d hop a ride to hide across the border
|
| With a black eyed girl beside me all the way
|
| Now the mountains are silent
|
| And the railroads are gone
|
| And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn
|
| But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me
|
| While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee |