DADDY, WHAT'S A TRAIN?

(Utah Phillips)



Daddy, What's a train? Is it something I can ride?

Does it carry lots of grown up folks and little kids inside

Is it bigger than our house? - oh, how can I explain

When my little boy asks me, "Daddy, what's a train?"



I remember when I was a boy living by the track

Us kids'd gather up the coal in a great big gunny sack

And then we'd hear the warning sound as the train pulled into

view

And the engineer would smile and wave as she went rolling through

She blew so loud and clear

That we covered up our ears

And counted cars as high as we could go

I can almost hear the steam

And the big old drivers scream

With a sound my little boy will never know

I guess the times have changed and kids are different now

Some don't even seem to know that milk comes from a cow

My little boy can tell the names of all the baseball stars

And I remember how we memorized the names on railroad cars

The Wabash and TP

Lackawana and IC

Nickel Plate and the good old Sante Fe

Names out of the past

And I know they're fading fast

Everytime I hear my son look up and say



Well, we climbed into the car and drove down into the town

Right up to the depot house but no one was around

We searched the yard together for something I could show

But I knew there hadn't been a train for a dozen years or so

All the things I did

When I was just a kid

How far away the memories appear

And it's plain enough to see

They mean a lot to me

'Cause my ambition was to be an engineer



Copyright Strike Music

@train @kids

recorded by Utah Phillips on Good Though

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