Downtown Train, by Tom Waits. The Rod Stewart version is a later cover.
Driver 8, R.E.M.
The walls are built up, stone by stone,
The fields divided one by one
And the train conductor says
“Take a break Driver 8, Driver 8 take a break
We’ve been on this shift too long”
And the train conductor says
“Take a break Driver 8, Driver 8 take a break
We can reach our destination, but we’re still a ways away”
I saw a treehouse on the outskirts of the farm
The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won’t get snagged
Bells are ringing through the town again,
Children look up, all they hear is sky-blue, bells ringing
And the train conductor says
“Take a break Driver 8, Driver 8 take a break
We can reach our destination, but we’re still a ways away”
But we’re still a ways away
Way to shield the hated heat
Way to put myself to sleep
Way to shield the hated heat
Way to put myself, my children to sleep
He piloted this song in a plane like that one
She is selling faith on the Go Tell crusade
Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent hear the bells ring again
Fields of wheat are lookin’ thin
And the train conductor says
“Take a break Driver 8, Driver 8 take a break
We’ve been on this shift too long”
And the train conductor says
“Take a break Driver 8, Driver 8 take a break
We can reach our destination, but we’re still a ways away”
But we’re still a ways away
Freight Train, by Nancy Whiskey, among others:
FREIGHT TRAIN
(Libba Cotten – written about 1905)
Chas McDevitt & Nancy Whiskey – 1957
Rusty Draper – 1957
Roy Acuff – 1965
Jim & Jesse – 1971
Also recorded by:
Pete Seeger; Elizabeth Cotten; The Overlanders; Peter & Gordon;
Dick & Dee Dee; Chet Atkins; Esther & Abi Ofarim; Dave Dudley;
Peter, Paul & Mary; Joan Baez; Mac Wiseman; Peter Morse;
New Lost City Ramblers.
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
So they won’t know where I’m gone.
Freight train, freight train, going round the bend
Freight train, freight train, gone again
One of these days turn that train around
Go back to my home town
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
So they won’t know where I’m gone
One more place I’d like to be
One more place I’d love to see
To watch those old Blue Ridge Mountain climb
While I ride old Number Nine
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
So they won’t know where I’m gone
When I die please bury me deep
Down at the end of Chestnut Street
So I can hear old Number Nine
As she goes rolling by
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Freight train, freight train, going so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
So they won’t know where I’m gone
When I’m dead and in my grave
No more good times here I’ll crave
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them I’ve gone to sleep
Freight train, freight train, going so fast,
Freight train, freight train, going so fast.
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
So they won’t know where I’m gone
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
So they won’t know where I’m gone.
Freight Train, by Alan Jackson, Lindisfarne (different song)
I just came down from Chippewa
Had as station wagon and a hundred dollars
Thinking about the girl I’d lost a year before
I hadn’t seen her for some time
Thought I might go on by when your memory came flooding in and you closed that door.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a diesel locomotive
I’d come whistling down your track crashing in your door.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it didnt have a heart
You need a shovel for the coal just to get me started
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train.
Well every time I talk to you I hear your jealous lines
I feel like I’ve been left abandoned on some old railway side
And every time I hear your voice my water just gets cold
My stoker will not stoke and my boiler will not boil.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a diesel locomotive
I’d come whistling down your track crashing in your door.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it didnt have a heart
You need a shovel for the coal just to get me started
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train.
Well every time I fell behind I could not get ahead
I wish someone would pull the lever and give me a little sand
And every time I slip behind even further back
I wish some switch man would come out of the fog and change my track.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a diesel locomotive
I’d come whistling down your track crashing in your door.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it didnt have a heart
You need a shovel for the coal just to get me started
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a diesel locomotive
I’d come whistling down your track crashing in your door.
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it didnt have a heart
You need a shovel for the coal just to get me started
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train baby
Wish it was a freight train.
