Texas 1947 Lyrics - Old No. 1 - Guy Clark

Now bein' six years old, I had seen some trains before 

So it's hard to figure out what I'm at the depot for 

Trains are big and black and smokin' - steam screamin' at the wheels 

Bigger than anything they is, at least that's the way she feels 

Trains are big and black and smokin', louder'n July four, 

But everybody's actin' like this might be somethin' more... 

Than just pickin' up the mail, or the soldiers from the war 

This is somethin' that even old man Wileman never seen before 

And it's late afternoon on a hot Texas day 

Somethin' strange is goin' on, and we's all in the way 

Well there's fifty or sixty people they're just sittin' on their cars 

And the old men left their dominos and they come down from the bars 

Everybody's checkin', 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 they finally said 'train time' 

You'd a-thought that Jesus Christ his-self was rollin' down the line 

'Cause things got real quiet, momma jerked me back 

But not before I'd got the chance to lay a nickel on the track 

[Chorus:] 

Look out here she comes, she's comin' 

Look out there she goes, she's gone, 

Screamin' straight through Texas 

Like a mad dog cyclone 

Big, red, and silver 

She don't make no smoke 

She's a fast-rollin' streamline 

Come to show the folks 

[Chorus:] 

Lord, she never even stopped 

She left fifty or sixty people still sittin' on their cars 

And they're wonderin' what it's comin' 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...train