Hell Bound Train

Texas cowboy lay down on a bar-room floor
Drank so much he could drink no more
He fell asleep with a troubled brain
Dreaming he rode on a hell-bound train

The engine with murderous blood was damp
Lit brilliantly with a brimstone lamp
An imp, for fuel, was shoveling bones
While the furnace rang with a Thousand groans

The boiler was filled with lager beer
The devil himself was the engineer;
The passengers were a most motley crew
Church member atheist Gentile and Jew

Rich men in broadcloth beggars in rags
Handsome young ladies and withered old hags
Yellow and black men red brown and white
All chained together O God, what a sight

Texas cowboy lay down on a bar-room floor
Drank so much he could drink no more
He fell asleep with a troubled brain
Dreaming he rode on a hell-bound train

While the train rushed on at an awful pace
The sulphurous fumes scorched their hands and face
Wider and wider the country grew
As faster and faster the engine flew

Louder and louder the thunder crashed
And brighter and brighter the lightning flashed
Hotter and hotter the air became
Till the clothes were burnt from each quivering frame

And out of the distance there arose a yell
Ha ha said the devil we're nearing hell
Then oh, how the passengers all Shrieked with pain
Begged the devil to stop the train

But he shimmied about and danced for glee
And laughed and joked at their misery
My faithful friends you have done the work
And the devil never can a payday shirk

You've bullied the weak you've robbed the poor
The starving brother you've turned from the door
You've laid up gold where the canker rust
And have given free vent to your beastly lust

You've justice scorned and corruption sown
And trampled the laws of nature down
You have drunk rioted cheated plundered and lied
Mocked at God in your hell-born pride

You have paid full fare so I'll carry you through
For it's only right you should have your due
Why, the laborer always expects his hire
So I'll land you safe in the lake of fire

Where your flesh will waste in the flames that roar
And my imps torment you forever more
Then the cowboy awoke with an anguished cry
His clothes wet with sweat and his hair standing high

Then he prayed as he never had prayed till that hour
To be saved from his sin and the demon's power
And his prayers and his vows were not in vain
For he never rode the hell-bound train