Daddy, What's a Train?

Daddy, what's a train?
Is it something I can ride?
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house?
Well, how can I explain
When my little boy asks me,
"Daddy, what's a train?"
When I was just a boy
Living by the tracks,
Us kids would gather up the coal
In a big old gunny sack
Then, we heard the warning sound
As the train came into view
The engineer would smile and wave
As she came rolling through
She blew so loud and clear
We had to cover up our ears
And we counted cars just as high as we could go
I could almost hear the steam
And the big ol' drivers scream
It's a sound my little boy would never know
I guess the times have changed
Kids are different now
Some don't even seem to know that milk comes from a cow
My little boy can tell the names of all the baseball stars
I remember how we memorized the names on railroad cars
The Wabash, the T.P.
Lackawanna, the I.C.
Yeah, the Nickel Plate and the good ol' Santa Fe
Just names out of the past
I guess they're fading fast
Every time I hear my little boy say...
Daddy, what's a train?
Is it something I can ride?
Does carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house?
Well, how can I explain
When my little boy asks me,
"Daddy what's a train?"
We climbed into the car
And drove down into town
Right up to the depot house
But, no one was around
We searched the yard together
For something I could show
But, I knew there hadn't been a train
For a dozen years or so
All the things I did
When I was just a kid
How far away those old memories appear
I guess it's plain to see
They still mean a lot to me
Because, my ambition was to be an engineer
Daddy, what's a train?
Is it something I can ride?
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house?
Well, how can I explain
When my little boy asks me,
"Daddy, what's a train?"
Is it bigger than our house?
Well, how can I explain
When my little boy asks me,
"Daddy, what's a train?"



Credits
Writer(s): Utah Phillips
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