Travelin' down this lonesome railroad
Silver Ribbons with no ends
A million miles a crossties
Mark a million miles I've been.
I've picked peaches down in Georgia
Apples up in Maine
Pulled cotton out in Texas
Ridin' on the train.
I was just a lad of seventeen
My daddy turned me loose
Silver ribbons callin' me
Engine and caboose.
I can't recall my mother
She left when I was two
Brunetts, blondes and red heads
Were the only love I knew.
Don't ask me where I'm going
Don't ask me where I've been
Those silver ribbons will take me there
There and back again.
One more time back again
Travelin' to the tune of freight wheels
Is such a lonely sound
Hear that lonesome whistle blow
As leavin' another town.
I wish someone was waitin'
Somewhere to welcome me
Then those silver ribbons
Would see no more of me.
Don't ask me where I'm going
Don't ask me where I've been
Those silver ribbons will take me there
There and back again...