Folk Songwriter
Song Info
Genre
Charts
Peak #188
Peak in subgenre #25
Author
Mac Burns
Rights
Ruro Music
Uploaded
August 01, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.7 MB • 128 kbps • 4:03
Story behind the song
There is an endless cycle of worlds that grow powerful but because of human nature they inevitably self destruct. The human condition remains. People struggle against the machine.
Lyrics
Old Man And The Engine © MJB July 1, 2006
An old man went out
And sat down on the railroad track
He laid his problem on the steel hard
To keep the pain from coming back
Engineer said to his brakeman
I feel trouble coming in the steam
Brakeman grabbed the throttle
He said I see just what you mean
Well the old man had come a long way
To learn their just is no quick break
To sit for a while any man deserves
And he wanted just one fair shake
Well they worried in the engine
They were running out of air
Driver said brakeman don’t waste the fire
And with a finger said fair is fair
Old man felt the rumbling underneath him
He saw the freedom in the tracks
He wasn’t going back to where he had been
He knew the engine couldn’t turn him back
(Bridge)
Engineer struggled with the throttle
and the brakeman with his heart
They both saw that the old man
had a teardrop in his eye
Brakeman stood on conscience
and he tried to do his part
Engineer cried out for justice
that's no way for man to die
Old man on the siding
Could see the light up in the sky
The engine missed the signal
Took a tunnel into denial
They couldn't see the other steamer
That was rollin' on down the tracks
Old man watched another train wreck
Fade a good life into black.
In a while the heavens opened up
And the rain began to fall
And the fire was extinguished
In one final screeching call
An old man went out
And sat down on the railroad track
He laid his problem on the steel hard
To keep the pain from coming back
Copyright © 2007; Ruro Music
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