This is like the old train songs. Boxcar Willie, Johnny Cash type song.
I've been told the locomotive tempo is in this lyric.
MEMORY TRAIN
When I was a child and heard trains in the night,
it was like a far call from worlds unknown.
I'd lie on my bed, and the moon's distant light,
silvered the room with a ghostly tone.
Where were they from, and where were they going ?
Who were the people who galloped on rails ?
It seemed to me like a great wind blowing,
over the valleys, and down from the hills.
(Chorus)
"The Iron Horse !" - my Father said -
running town to town, through day and night,
watered from tanks, by stokers fed,
pounding its way to the morning light !"
In the prime of youth, I stood by the tracks.
When the engines passed they shook my bones.
Engineers waved. Faces looked back,
from windows above the flanks that shone.
I dreamed someday I'd board that power;
ride the Iron Horse through towns and time,
watch as the land fell away in a shower,
of speed's own wind, while we roared and climbed !
(Chorus)
Whistle and moan and piston tempo -
like riding an orchestra's surging sounds !
Somehow it seemed like a moving temple,
with a mystic crew, on Heavenly rounds !
Today the trains are fewer, and tamer.
I too have traveled my share of miles.
I no longer try to be the namer,
of far-off calls, and mysterious smiles.
But I carry an image of unfolding Truth,
that endless Journey on which we're bound.
It's a memory deep in the days of youth,
of pounding wheels, and whistle's sound.
(Chorus)
It calls, as it always has, to me,
of places unseen, and wonders unknown;
distant dreams, and the mystery,
of the Spirit's longing for some far Home.
Now, when I'm weary, and feeling alone,
I call up that image in reverie,
and like a traveler far from Home,
I board the Train of Memory.
woo -oo- oo- woo- oo- oo - oo -
riding the rails of Eternity.
( © 1995 - "Future Folk" Music - Betty Curtis )
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