John Denver Album

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

When Jenny was a little girl, she only dreamed of trains
She never played with dolls or lacy kinds of things
Jenny counted boxcars instead of counting sheep
She could go anywhere when she went to sleep

All she ever talked about was getting on to ride
She was living in another time you could see it in her eyes
And every day after school she'd head down to the track
Waiting for the train that was never coming back

Jenny dreamed of trains
When the nighttime came
Nobody knew how she made it come true
Jenny dreamed of trains

The depot's been boarded up, the rails have turned to rust
There hasn't been a train through here since the mill went bust
No one believed her when she said she heard the train
Said she was just a little girl acting kind of strange

Jenny dreamed of trains
When the nighttime came
Nobody knew how she made it come true
Jenny dreamed of trains

Jenny laid a penny on the track one day
In God we trust she walked away
The very next morning all she could find
Was a little piece of copper squashed flatter than a dime

Jenny dreamed of trains
When the nighttime came
Nobody knew how she made it come true
Jenny dreamed of trains

Nobody knew how she made it come true
Jenny dreamed of trains

Words and Music by Vince Gill and Guy Clark

[No lyrics]

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

Steel Rails, chasing sunshine 'round the bend
Winding through the trees like a ribbon in the wind
I don't mind not knowing what lies down the track
'Cause I'm looking out ahead
To keep my mind from turning back

It's not the first time, I find myself alone at dawn
If I really had you once, I still have you when I'm gone
Whistle blowing, blowing lonesome in my mind
Calling me along that never ending double line

Steel Rails, chasing sunshine 'round the bend
Winding through the trees like a ribbon in the wind
I don't mind not knowing what lies down the track
'Cause I'm looking out ahead to keep my mind from turning back

The sun is shining through the open boxcar door
Lying in my mind with the things I've known before
And I've lost count of all the hours, days and time
Just the rhythm of the rails keeps the motion in my mind

Steel Rails, chasing sunshine 'round the bend
Winding through the trees like a ribbon in the wind
I don't mind not knowing what lies down the track
'Cause I'm looking out ahead to keep my mind from turning back

Words and music by Louisa Banscomb

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

All around the water tower
Waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain I walked up to a brakeman
Just to give him a line of talk
He said if you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk
Well I haven't got a nickel
Not a penny can 1 show
Get off, get off you railroad bum
And he slammed that boxcar door

Well, he put me off in Texas
A state I dearly love
The wide open spaces all around me
The moon and stars up above
Nobody seems to want me
Nor to lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco
Going back to Dixieland
My pocketbook is empty
My heart is full of pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Just waiting for a train

Words and music by Jimmie Rodgers

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

I've been working on the railroad
All the live long day
I've been working on the railroad
Just to pass the time away
Can't you hear the whistle blowing
Rise up so early in the morn
Can't you hear the whistle blowing
Dinah, blow your horn

Dinah won't you blow
Dinah won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn
Dinah, won't you blow,
Dinah, won't you blow,
Dinah, won't you blow your horn

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone's in the kitchen I know
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Strumming on the old banjo

Fee fie fiddle eell o
Fee fie fiddle eell o
Fee fie fiddle eell o
Strumming on the old banjo

Traditional

[No lyrics]

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

Old Train, I can hear your whistle blow
And I want to be jumping on again
Old Train, I've been everywhere you go
And I know what lies beyond each bend

Old Train, each time you pass
You're older than the last
And it seems I'm too old for running
I hear your rusty wheels grate against the rails
They cry with every mile
And I think I'll stay awhile

Old Train, I grow weary at the miles
And I miss the freedom that was mine
Old Train, just to think about those times
I'll smile when you're highballing by

Old Train, each time you pass
You're older than the last
And It seems I'm too old for running
I hear your rusty wheels grate against the rails
They cry with every mile
And I think I'll stay awhile

Words and music by Herb Pedersen and Mikki Pedersen

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.


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? Well how can I explain
When my little boy and girl ask me ‘Daddy, what's a train?'

When I was just a boy and living by the track
Us kids would gather up the coal in big 'ole gunnysacks
Then we heard the warning sound as the train pulled into view
The engineer would smile and wave as she went rolling through

She blew so loud and clear, we had to cover up our ears
And we counted cars just as high as we could go
I can almost hear the steam those big old drivers scream
A sound my little kids will never know

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? Well how can I explain
When my little boy and girl ask me ‘Daddy, what's a train?'

I guess the times have changed, kids are different now
‘Cause 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
I remember how we memorized the names on railroad cars

The Wabash and the TP, Lackawanna, the IC
The Nichel-Plate and the good old Santa Fe
Just names out of the past, I guess they're fading fast
Every time I hear my little boy say

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? Well how can I explain
When my little boy and girl ask me ‘Daddy, what's a train?'

We climbed into the car, drove down into 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 those memories appear
I guess it's plain to see they still mean a lot to me
'Cause my ambition was to be an engineer

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? Well how can I explain
When my little boy and girl ask me ‘Daddy, what's a train?'

Words and Music by Bruce “U. Utah�? Phillips

There was a little railroad train with loads and loads of toys
All starting out to find a home with little girls and boys
And as that little railroad train began to chug along
The little engine up in front was heard to sing this song
Choo, choo, choo, choo
Choo, choo, choo, choo
I feel so good today
Oh hear the track
Oh clickety clack
I'll go my merry way

The little train went rousing on so fast it seemed to fly
Until it reached a mountain that went almost to the sky
The Little engine moaned and groaned and huffed and puffed away
But halfway to the top it just gave up and seemed to say
I can't go
I can't go
I'm weary as can be
I can't go
I can't go
This job is not for me

The toys got out to push but all in vain alas alack
And then a great big engine came a whistling down the track
They asked if it would kindly pull them up the mountain side
But with a high and mighty sneer it scornfully replied

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

That last train done left town
That last train done left town
I heard the whistle moaning low
That last train done gone down

My sweet baby's on that train
My sweet baby's on that train
I wonder if I will see her again
That last train done gone down

I heard that whistle moanin' low
I heard that whistle moanin' low
I'm begging and pleading, please don't go
That last train done gone down

I'm sorry for what I've done
I'm sorry for what I've done
Too late good-bye, my sweet baby cried
That last train done left town

That last train done left town
That last train done left town
I heard that whistle moanin' low
That last train done gone down

Words and music by Peter Rowan

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

He was born in International Falls a long, long time ago
Moved to Tucumcan when the ironwork got show
He was cornbread and hard scrabble and scratching for every dime
'Till he threw it in and he kilt the road to walk that endless line

Now he's The Last Hobo
Riding the last boxcar
On the last freight train
Leaving here

Now he's The Last Hobo
Riding the last boxcar
On the last freight train
Away from here

He tried his hand at lots of jobs and he did 'em all with pride
From shoeing mules to driving trucks, he mastered what he tried
It must have been Ramona, she was all he cared about
When she ran away and left him you could see the fire go out

Now he's The Last Hobo
Riding the last boxcar
On the last freight train
Away from here

We hardly ever see him
Once or twice and he would stay a day or two
He'd ask about Ramona
Then he'd say that he was only passing through
Now he knows every railroad bull along the right of way
And every hobo jungle from New York to Santa Fe
He's looked for his Ramona on the far side of the hill
Now his sun is sinking lower and he's looking for her still

Now he's The Last Hobo
Riding the last boxcar
On the last freight train
Leaving from here

Now he's The Last Hobo
Riding the last boxcar
On the last freight train
Away from here

Words and music by George Allen

[No lyrics]

This song was first released on the All Aboard! album. It is the only album it has been released on.

Mo boys, is you right
Done got it right
All I hate about linin' track
These ol' boys are gonna break my back

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Down in the holler below the fleld
Angels working on the chariot wheel

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Mary and the babe was a sittin' in the shade
Thinking on the money that I ain't made

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Moses stood on the Red Sea shore
Gotta batten down the waves with a 2 by 4

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Now if I could I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
All them disciples dead and gone

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Mo boys, is you right
Done got it right
All I hate about lining track
These ol' boys about to break my back

Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
Mo boys, can't you line 'em (track a lack)
See Eloise gonna line 'em track

Words and music by Huddie Ledbetter

City of New Orleans Lyrics

Ridin' on the City of New OrleansIllinois Central Monday mornin' railThere's 15 cars, and 15 restless riders3 conductors and 25 sacks of mail
All along a southbound oddeusyAnd the train pulls out of KankakeeAnd rolls along past the houses, farms and feildsPassin' trains that have no names And freightyards full of old black menThe grave yards of the rusted automobiles
Singin' good mornin' America, how are you?Sayin' don't you know me I'm your native son?I'm the train they call the City of New OrleansI'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.
Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car. Penny a point, aint no one keepin' scorePass the paper bag that holds the bottle.Feel the wheels a rumblin' through the floor.
And the son's of Pullman Porter's and the son's of engineersRide their father's magic carpet made of steelAnd mothers with their fantasies, a rockin' to the gentle breezeAnd the rythym of the rail is all they feel
Singin' good mornin' America, how are you? Sayin' don't you know me I'm your native son. Yes, I'm the train they call the City of New OrleansI'll be gone 500 miles when they day is done.
But its twilight on the City of New Orleans.Changing cars in Memphis, TenneseeHalf way home, and we'll be there by mornin' Through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea
But all the towns and people seemTo fade into a bad dreamAnd the steel rails still ain't heard the newsThe conductor sings hius song againThe passengers will please refrainThis train has got the disapearing blues
Singin' good morning America, how are you?Sayin' don't you know me I'm your native son?I'm the train they call the City of New OrleansI'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

This song was first released on the all aboard! album. it is the only album it has been released on.

When jesse was a little girl, she only dreamed of trains
She never played with dolls or lacy kinds of things
Jesse counted boxcars instead of counting sheep
She could go anywhere when she went to sleep

Jesse laid a penny on the track one day
In God we trust she walked away
The very next morning all she could find


Was a little piece of copper squashed flatter than a dime

Jesse dreamed of trains
When the nighttime came
Nobody knew how she made it come true
Jesse dreamed of trains

Words and music by vince gill and guy clark
(additional words for jesse by john denver)

[No lyrics]