Key: D
Introduction:
Em
Now bein' six years old
G
I'd seen some trains before,
A
so it's hard to figure out
B Em
what I'm at the depot for.
Em
Trains are big and black and smokin' steam,
G
screamin' at the wheels,
A
bigger than anything there is,
B Em
at least that's the way she feels
B
Trains are big and black and smokin',
louder than July four,
A
but everybody's actin' like
B Em
this might be somethin' more...
Em
...than just pickin' up the mail
G
or the soldiers from the war,
A
this is somethin' that even old man Wileman (?)
B Em
never seen before.
F#m
And it's late afternoon
on a hot Texas day,
A
somethin' strange is goin' on
B Em
and we's all in the way.
Em
Well there's fifty or sixty people
G
they're just sittin' on their cars,
A
and the old men left their dominoes
B Em
and they come down from the bars.
Em
Everybody's checkin',
G
old Jack Kittrel(?) checked his watch,
A
and us kids put our ears
B Em
to the rails to hear 'em pop.
B
So we already knowed
when they finally said 'train time'
A
you'd a-thought that Jesus Christ himself
B Em
was rollin' down the line.
Em
Cuz things got real quiet,
G
Momma jerked me back,
A
not before I'd got the chance
B Em
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,
B
screamin' straight through Texas
A E
like a mad dog cyclone.
B
Big, red, and silver,
she don't make no smoke,
A
she's a fast-rollin' streamline
B E
come to show the folks.
E
Look out here she comes, she's comin'
A
Look out there she goes, she's gone,
B
screamin' straight through Texas
A E
like a mad dog cyclone.
Em
...Lord, she never even stopped.
Em
She left fifty or sixty people
G
still sittin' on their cars,
A
and they're wonderin' what it's comin' to
B Em
and how it got this far.
Em
Oh but me I got a nickel smashed
G
flatter than a dime
A
by a mad dog, runaway
B Em
red-silver streamline...train