Texas 1947

Bein' six years old, I had seen some trains before
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 that July Four
But everybody's actin' like this might be something more
Than just picking up the mail or soldiers from the war
This is something that even Old Man Wileman never seen before

It's late afternoon on a hot Texas day
Something strange is going on, we's all in the way

Well there's fifty or sixty people sittin' on their cars
The old men left their dominos and they come down from the bars
And everybody's 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 I finally said, "Train time"
You'd a-thought that Jesus Christ hisself 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
Stand back, there she goes
She's gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone
She's big and 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
Stand back, there she goes
She's gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone

She never even stopped
She left fifty, sixty people sitting on their cars
They're wondering what it's coming to and how it got this far
Oh, but me, I got a nickel smashed flatter than a dime
By a mad dog, runaway, red-silver streamline

Look out, here she comes
She's coming
Stand back, there she goes
She's gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone
She's big and 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
Stand back, there she goes
She's gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone
Look out, here she comes
She's coming
Stand back, there she goes
She's gone
Screaming straight through Texas
Like a mad dog cyclone