I'd sing the Red River Valley
And he'd sit in the kitchen and cry
Run his fingers through seventy years of livin'
Wonder, "Lord, has every well I've drilled gone dry?"
We was friends, me and this old man
Like desperados waiting for the train
Desperados waiting for the train
He's a drifter and a driller of oil wells
An old school man of the world
Taught me how to drive his car when he's too drunk to
Then he'd wink and give some money for the girls
Our lives was like some old western movie
Like desperados waiting for a train
Desperados waiting for a train
From the time that I could walk, he'd take me with him
To a bar called the Green Frog Cafe
There was old men with beer guts and dominoes
Lying 'bout their lives while they played
I was just a kid, they all called me "sidekick"
Like desperados waiting for the train
Desperados waiting for the train
One day I looked up, he's pushin' eighty
Has brown tobacco stains all down his chin
To me, he's one of the heroes of this country
So why's he all dressed up like them old men
Drinkin' beer, playin' Moon and Forty-two
Like a desperado waiting for the train
Desperado waiting for the train
Just before he died I went to see him
I was grown and he was almost gone
So we just closed our eyes and dreamed us up a kitchen
And sang another verse to that old song
Come on, Jack, I swear that charm is comin'
We're desperados waiting for the train
Like desperados waiting for the train
Desperados waiting for the train
Desperados waiting for a train