Down Bound Train Lyrics

A stranger lying on a bar room floor
Had drank so much he could drink no more
And so he fell asleep with a troubled brain
To dream that he rode on that down bound train

The engine with blood was sweaty and damp
And brilliantly lit with a brimstone lamp
And imps for fuel was shovelling bones
While the furnace rang with a thousand groans

The boiler was filled with lots of beer
The devil himself was the engineer
The passengers were most a motley crew
Some were foreigners and others he knew

Rich men and lost beggars in rags
Handsome young ladies and wicked old hags

As the train rushed on at a terrible pace
Sulfuric fumes scorched their hands and face

Wider and wider the country grew
Faster and faster the engine flew
Louder and louder the thunder crashed
Brighter and brighter the lighting flashed

Hotter and hotter the air became
Til' their clothes were burned with each quivering refrain
Then out of the din there came a yell
Ha ha, said the devil we're nearing home

Oh, how the passengers shrieked with pain
They go to Satan with this down bound train

The stranger awoke with an anguished cry
His clothes wet with sweat and his hair standing high

He fell on his knees on the bar room floor
And prayed a prayer like never before
And the prayers and vows were not in vain
For he never rode that down bound train