Desperados Waiting for a Train

I played the Red River Valley

And he'd sit out in the kitchen and cry

An' run his fingers through 70 years of livin'

An' wonder Lord, as ever, will that drill run dry?

We were friends, me an this old man

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train

He's a drifter, and a driller of oil wells

And an old-school man of the world

He'd let me drive his car when he's too drunk to

And he'd wink, and give me money for the girls

And our lives were like some old western movie

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train

From the time that I could walk, he'd take me with him

To a bar, called the Green Frog Cafe

And there were old men, with beer-guts and dominoes

Lying about their lives while they play

And I was just a kid, they called his sidekick

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train

One day I looked up, and he's pushing 80

And there's brown tobacco stains all down his chin

To me he's one of the heroes of this country

So why is he all dressed up like them old men?

Drinkin' beer and playing Moon in 42

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train

The day before he died, I went to see him

I was grown, and he was almost gone

So we just closed our eyes and dreamed of supper kitchens

And sang another verse to that old song

Come on Jack, that son-of-a-gun's a-comin'.

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train

Like desperados waiting for a train