Justin Townes Earle Album

Well she comes out at night with the cold winds of December
And when it's quiet you hear her engines cry
She blows smoke out her wheels and her gears pound the steel
As they carry her on down the line

Now I'm sure that you've heard stories as most of us have
In the lunch counter and barber shop queues
She's the Ghost of Virginia and from here up to Richmond
She runs by the light of the moon

Well a few years back on the old Suffolk Road
Where it crosses the abandoned rail line
My Grandpa claimed that he'd seen a freight train
And it wasn't no sleek stream line

She was cold black and steel and she screamed as she cut
Her way clear of the pines
But he swears to this day he can feel the earth shake
And smell her smoke when the wind's just right

Ah, but back in her day she was a real working horse
Haulin' coal out for old man Ward
She was tied up with ribbons and set out to Richmond
Haulin' soldiers during the war

Ah but some say she wrecked and she rides these rails
Hopin' one day that she'll get it right
Others say she roams out picking up lost souls
Carryin 'em down to Carolina

So if you're ever out on the old Suffolk Road
And you see this strangest of sights
She's the Ghost of Virginia bound from Raleigh up to Richmond
And you'd best stay out of her line
Yeah you'd best stay out of her line

Well, the way things have been goin', I guess we're better off this way
No, I just can't go on knowin' you don't feel the same
Yeah, but baby, right now I just can't see this through
You can't leave, 'cause I ain't lettin' go of you

Now, you say I act a child, oh and that may be
But that don't change the way you once felt for me
Yeah, so I tried to forget, but it ain't no use
You can't leave, 'cause I ain't lettin' go of you

Well now darlin', you can't just leave me like this
Well there ain't no tellin' what I might do
So I'm gonna make sure that you never forget the way that I loved you

So come on now, darlin', let's not make this hard
Well I know you got it somewhere down in your heart
Yeah, 'cause I just can't see life without those eyes of blue
You can't leave, 'cause I ain't lettin' go of you
No, you can't leave, 'cause I ain't lettin' go of you

Well he woke up that morning
And he called into work
Put on his daddy's old suit
With a second hand shirt
All untucked, shoes untied
The people all snickered as he walked by.
So he stopped in a bar,
Bought a shot of Stevens and another.
He bummed a cigarette
And set talking to a stranger about the weather.
And then he paid his bill and
He stepped outside, fell down into the street.
He cursed, and he cried
As he climbed back up to his feet again.


So up the road he found a payphone and called his mom.
He said, momma I think I'll be coming back home.
I been feeling so bad, and tired of this city.
Ain't been the same since I lost my pretty Angelina.
Momma I miss her so.
It's been over a year and there ain't nothing I fear so much as being alone.
And then he hung up the phone without saying good-bye.
Stopped in a store and bought a postcard and signed it, Fare thee well, and sent it back home to Yuma.

Lookin’ back I'd say
It wasn't so much the girl
As it was the booze and the dope
And the way he took the weight of the world
Up upon his shoulders.
And when he washed the blue from his eyes
As he grew colder.
As through all those lonely nights there left alone.

So he was just 23 when he stepped out on that ledge.
It was his weary heart that pushed him to the edge.
He was tired of living life, looking for love.
A weary heart just needs a little touch.
And is it too much to ask, he cried as he stepped into the wind.
He turned his back onto the world and he fell back to earth again.
So with the wind in his hair, and smile on his face,
He crashed through the hood of an Old's 98,
And he lay there dying on a cold winters day
All alone, all alone.

Standing on a corner in the middle of the night begging dollars from people I see
Trying to book a ticket on a one-way ride up out of these dirty streets

And I don't know where I'm going no more
I don't know and I don't care

Well, the rail car's running through these streets so fast, man, I'd jump one if he'd just slow down
There's killers on the road so it ain't much chance of me trying and hitching around
Oh, but if I had a dollar boy, I'd find me a game, and I bet you I could turn it into five
And if I had five I'd book a bullet train and I'd ride it to the end of the line

And I don't know where I'm going no more
I don't know and I don't care

Well, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York City, Duke and Carey, Amarillo, Los Angeles
Saskatoon, Baton Rouge, Miami, Johnson City, or anywhere in between
Anywhere but here, anywhere at all, I'm just looking for a change
I don't want to see the sun rising up on this dirty little town again

And I don't know where I'm going no more
I don't know and I don't care

I don't know where I'm going no more
I don't know and I don't care

[No lyrics]

Oh well tonight when
I lay me down
Oh well lord I'm going home
Back to that river
Back to my brother oh lord
I may no longer be alone

Now in my life I've
I've had few comforts
And ones I did I pushed aside
But now I'm going
Back home to Jesus oh lord
Drowning in the river wide

I've had some friends
Out on this road
Who have given me a helping hand
Oh and I know I
I can't repay them oh lord
But I know they will understand

So gather round boys
This here's the last time
You're gonna see me in one piece
So put a kiss
Upon my lips oh boys
And then send me off to sleep

Oh well tonight when
I lay me down
Oh well lord I'm going home
Back to that river
Back to my brother oh lord
I may no longer be alone
I may no longer be alone