Original: There Used To Be A Train - LIVE ©2012 James F. Curley

James Curley presents a new song - "There Used To Be A Train" - from his forthcoming CD. This performance was in March 2011 at SPACE in Evanston IL.

LYRICS
There used to be a train; ran along these tracks,
taking coal down to the mill, bringing empty rail cars back
Headlight in the rain, blew its whistle in the night,
rumbled through my dreams and told me everything’s all right

There used to be a train; stopped in my hometown,
took my cousin off to war; brought his body back around.
He jumped from planes into the fields of Vietnam;
died in New York City with a needle in his arm

Rusted rails and rotting ties are all that remain
To prove that once upon a time there used to be a train… There used to be a train

There used to be a train; every hobo hitched a ride
from job to job and town to town across the countryside .
Now the fruited plain offers nothing for the poor
and honest work for homeless folk has become folklore

There used to be a train that would bring the candidates,
folk from near and far could get to hear the whistle-stop debate.
Nowadays campaigns control every little thing
and we get the kind of government a train would never bring

The Roman Empire is no more, and we will fade away; Via Salaria, Great Northern, Sante Fe…

There used to be a train far off in the night,
bound for the horizon and the early morning light
The free and brave would board it with their dreams,
I hope and pray that old train ain’t runnin’ out of steam

[sullivan]

Darn good song! Love the high chord rythm. Made me think about being told that during the Vietnam draft years young men were sent to Basic training via the rails. I missed that nightmare by 23? Months.

[NancyDrum-ptrb]

This is a wonderful song - great theme, story, catchy melody, great vocal, nice guitarwork & spirit!

[joey]

Jim it's Joe Hinkle. I love this song. Please post more. Stay well my brother.

[kiwibridge]

This is brilliant, I hope James gets the recognition he deserves