Play a Train Song

Todd Snider

Smokin' in a black Cadillac, the engine's winding down
He parked it up on the sidewalk like he owned the whole damn town
I'd hear him talking to some chick
Through a thick ghost of smoke, through a thicker haze of summer-comforting Coke

He'd say, "girl, you're hotter than the hinges hanging off the gates of hell
Don't be afraid to turn to me, babe, if he don't treat you well"
And by "he" he meant me, so I laughed and I shook his hand
He laughed a little bit louder, see the yeller past the band

Play a train song
Pour me one more round
Make 'em leave my boots on
When they lay me into the ground
I am a runaway locomotive
Out of my one-track mind
And I've been looking for any kind of trouble that I can find

I got this old black leather jacket
I got this pack of Marlboro Reds
I got this stash here in my pocket
I got these thoughts in my own head
To write, to run on till I gotta walk
Until I've got to crawl
There's a moment that I'm in right now
And nothing else at all

Play a train song
Pour me one more round
Make 'em leave my boots on
When they lay me into the ground
I am a runaway locomotive
Out of my one-track mind

In the television and blizzard lights
We looked around his place
We found him cold there on the sofa
A little smile across his face
And though I tried with all my sadness
Somehow I just could not weep
For, man, it looked to me
Like he died laughing in his sleep

Singing a train song
Drinking one last round
We made 'em leave his boots on
On the day they laid him down
He was a runaway locomotive
Out of his one-track mind
Play a train song
Play a train song
Play a train song