When I was a boy in the days of the train I’d sit by the tracks on a long summer day And I’d wave at the brakesman And he’d wave back at me While the thunderclouds rolled...   Out of East Tennessee But the dreams of a boy disappear when you’re grown And though I may dream the railroads are gone The ties they are rotten And the tracks shot to hell Along with my dreams... and the old railroad bell In my dreams I ride the rails to California Workin’ diners and farms along the way Or I’d hop a ride to hide across the border With a black eyed girl beside me all the way Now the mountains are silent And the railroads are gone And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me While the thunderclouds roll... out of East Tennessee In my dreams I ride the rails to California Workin’ diners and farms along the way Or I’d hop a ride to hide across the border With a black eyed girl beside me all the way Now the mountains are silent And the railroads are gone And the coal towns no longer hear the miners at dawn But the train whistle shrills out her memories to me While the thunderclouds roll... out of East Tennessee