When I was a boy in the days of the train
I'd sit by the tracks on a long summer day
And I'd wave at the brakesman, and he'd wave back at me
While the thunderclouds rolled out of East Tennessee

But the dreams of a boy disappear when you're grown
And though I may dream, the railroads are gone
The ties they are rotten and the tracks shot to hell
Along with my dreams and the old railroad bell

In my dreams I ride the rails to California
Workin' diners and farms along the way
Or I'd hop a ride to hide across the border
With a black eyed girl beside me all the way

Now the mountains are silent and the railroads are gone
And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn
But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me
While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee

In my dreams I ride the rails to California
Workin' diners and farms along the way
Or I'd hop a ride to hide across the border
With a black eyed girl beside me all the way

Now the mountains are silent and the railroads are gone
And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn
But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me
While the thunderclouds roll out of East Tennessee