The Tehachapi Loop

You go up and up
And up and up
Leaving Bakersfield
Honky-tonked enough

Chugga chug chug
Keep on climbing up
Need a roundabout
Just to crest this bluff

If your train is more than 4,000 feet
Your tail might just be the next thing you meet

Nearly 40 trains a day
Leaving Bakersfield for the Mojave

You know you're halfway
Through your route
When you're goin' around
The Tehachapi Loop

Good thing William Hood understood
To scale that mountain you'll need
The Tehachapi Loop

You go down and down
And down and down
Into Bakersfield
Country girls abound

Steel on steel
Them wheels squeal
Roadmaster's hand
Knows a steady feel

You can hear his call to forewarn
That's the sound of the Union Pacific horn

From the Mojave desert where the condor roams
When we turn the loop we're nearly home

You know you're halfway through your route
When you're goin' around
The Tehachapi Loop

Good thing that William Hood he understood
To scale that mountain you're gonna need
The Tehachapi Loop
Tehachapi Loop
Tehachapi Loop
Tehachapi Loop