Written by - Russell Steagall Recorded by Hank Snow She was a young and pretty Coleman county farm girl Never been more than fifty miles from home I was just a drifter I was living off the land Spent the summer on her daddy's farm In the evening we'd walk along the railroad We'd hear that lonesome whistle in the night And she'd pretend we road the rails to Denver Cause' her head was full of flashin' neon lights Twas' that big old shiny diesel as it rounded Carter's bend Was enough to make a young girl want to roam She'd pretend she rode those shiny rails all around the world And had the Texas Silver Zephyr bring her home As summer work was over and restless got to me I kept talkin' 'bout the places I would go Then her young head got to spinnin' for the things she'd never seen So she followed me to Denver in the fall
Then jobs got scarce in central Colorado And then the winter nights got awful cold Just one old army blanket was the only one we had No money for the oil to run the stove Yes that big old shiny diesel as it rounded Carter's bend Was enough to make a young girl want to roam But through all those hungry nights the only promise that I made I had the Texas Silver Zephyr take her home When she started feelin' bad she didn't tell me She had a way of keepin' problems all her own So I didn't know her troubles with the baby Before I could get a doctor she was gone Lord I know it's not the way she really wanted things to be In her dreams she had a pullman all her own But she'd be proud of me to know I kept my promise And had the Texas Silver Zephyr take her home And had the Texas Silver Zephyr take her home