I played the red river valley And he'd sit out in kitchen and cry And run his fingers through seventy years of livin' I wonder Lord has ever, well I've drilled run dry? We were friends, me and this old man
Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train
He's a drifter and a driller of oil wells And an old school man of the world He let me drive his car when he's too drunk to And he'd wink and give me money for the girls And our lives were like, some old western movie
Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train
From the time that I could walk, he'd take me with him To a bar called the green frog cafe And there were old men with beer guts and dominos Lying 'bout their lives while they played And I was just a kid, they called his sidekick
Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train
One day I looked up and he's pushin' eighty And there's brown tobacco stains all down his chin To me he's one of the heroes of this country So why's he all dressed up like them old men? Drinkin' beer and playin' moon and forty-two
Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train
The day before he died, I went to see him I was grown and he was almost gone So we just closed our eyes and dreamed us up a kitchen And sang another verse to that old song Come on, Jack, that son-of-a-guns are comin'
Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train Like desperados waiting for a train