From the rivers to the mountains
Coast to shiny coast
There's a silver line of mercury
Whining like a ghost
You can hear me in the grasslands
You can feel me in the trees
Moving through the valleys like a wayward summer breeze
You can sense me in the atmosphere across the dusty plain
I'm not the tickets, I'm not the tracks, I am the train
Bring me priests and politicians
Secular and saved
They're in it for the long haul
From the cradle to the grave
You can ask 'em where they're going
They're gonna tell you where they've been
They're all pugilists and pirates way down underneath the skin
It don't make a world of difference
Sacred or profane
I'm not the journey, I'm not the railroad, I am the train
Well there's a little yellow idol
Green and red ones too
Burning up the road side from here to Kalamazoo
While a hundred million effigies are burning across the land
Like so many heartfelt messages delivered by my hand
I've seen triumphs, I've seen tragedies through the sun and rain
I'm not the sirens, I ain't the blinds, I am the train
Here me whistle here me whine
I'm moving down the line with you
Here me rumble here me grind
See my light come shining through
I've got stones all in my pass way
Can't you feel my pain
I'm not the station, I'm not the stops, I am the train
I was there through war and pestilence
I was there through hours of need
Driven by your opulence driven by your greed
You were master you were slaver
See the blood upon your hands
I was built by stone and labor that you took from foreign lands
I've shown a bacon in the darkness cast a light upon your sin
While your squeezed out all the juice I guess you're doing it again
It will drive you to distraction it will drive you crane insane
I'm not the journey, I ain't the railroad, I am the train
I ain't the sirens, I'm not the blinds, I am the train
The mean old fireman, cruel old engineer, I am the train