Texas, 1947

	  		    E                       G 
Now bein' six years old I'd seen some trains before 
        A                           B7           E 
So it's hard to figure out what I'm at the depot for. 
E                                           G 
Trains are big and black and smokin' steam, screamin' at the wheels 
A                                       B7                 E  
Louder than anything there is, at least that's the way she feels 
           B7 
Trains are big and black and smokin', louder than July fourth 
A                            B7                 E 
Everybody's actin' like this might be somethin' more 
          E                          G 
Than just pickin' up the mail or the soldiers from the war 
A                                          B7           E 
Even somethin' that even old man Wileman's never seen before 
 
 
BRIDGE: 
         F#m 
And it's late afternoon on a hot Texas day 
                      A            B7   
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 

E 
Look out here she comes, she's comin' 
A 
Look out there she goes, she's gone 
B7                                      A         E 
Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone 
B7 
Big an red, and silver, Lord, she don't make no smoke 
        A                       B7               E 
She's a fast-rollin' streamline come to show the folks 
     E 
Said look out here she comes, she's comin' 
A 
Look out there she goes, she's gone 
B7                                      A         E 
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