Ad Lib I was a little boy Back in West Virginia We lived very close to a railroad track And I remember I used to dream about them trains And where they might go And the people that worked on the trains And the train made music It made you feel good I can remember sometimes I could just stand off all by myself And just get funky list'nin' to the train And I used to pick up a handful of gravels And throw ‘em down on the ground for ties Yeah and I'd make up songs I'd sing He was a railroad man He was a railroad man He was a railroad man ‘Til he stepped in front of the railroad train.
He rode across the plains He rode on a fruit freight train The hauled bananas to Savannah And wore bandannas made in Old Japan. He was a railroad man He was a railroad man He was a railroad man ‘Til he stepped in front of the railroad train. He used to change his name To every place he came His name was Tex when he's in Texas And Bangor when he went to Maine. He was a railroad man He was a railroad man He was a railroad man ‘Til he stepped in front of the railroad train. It's all right Say you know it's all right If you've ever been downtown You know what I'm talkin' ‘bout