The Next Train Out of Town

Derek saw the sunrise on Carolina Hill

And he drank the moonshine, from a West Virginia still

He rode that rail from Maine to Oregon

Once he tried to settle down but like the settin' sun

He's a drifter on the run

When the train pulled into Houston, he took a look around

His only son was living there on the outskirts of the town

Yeah, but he thinks his old man is just a bum

Don't wanna hear no stories, 'bout what he's seen or done

He's a just drifter on the run

Those lines on his face run from Chattanooga to Cheyenne

Running from place to place, no one seems to understand

Poor old drifter, his restless heart won't settle down

Looking for, always looking for the next train out of town

Jumped a boxcar to take him west to Santa Fe

He's looking for a woman, she let him drift away

She said "Love put roots into the ground"

He heard the locomotive's cry, she called for him to come

Those lines on his face run from Chattanooga to Cheyenne

Running from place to place, no one seems to understand

Poor old drifter, his restless heart won't settle down

Looking for, always looking for the next train out of town

He said, "You know, the midnight sky is different everywhere I go"

"I tried to live a lie, but that was many years ago"

So he set out on the road, one step ahead of the setting sun

Yeah, he's a drifter on the run

He got lines on his face, the old drifter

Been running from place to place, the old drifter

Deep old lines in his face, he's a drifter on the run