The Last Ride of the Western Limited

by Jim Colegrove
©2001, Gold Tooth Music, BMI

Somewhere on the lost highway, out on the tossed by-way
Smoke blows out a big rig stack
Somewhere in the distance, beyond all resistance
A switch engine’s rollin’ down the track
Out toward the sunset, in the big red shadows hangin’ low
Up a cul-de-sac end, on the berm of the bend
Near the side of the edge of the road

Hear the crack of a whiplash break through in a backflash
Quick as a nightrider’s flame
The hooves pound the range, split the sand and the sage
And the blue moon turns to gold again
Over the White Oak Mountain where calypso never came
In a dime store novel, in a TV movie
In a winner-take-all game

The sound of guitars from the honky-tonk bars
Fill the pine trees from here to St. James
In a two-dollar flop, just above the coffee shop
By the pool room with nobody’s name
Down along the shoreline, near the rocks by the lighthouse door
There’s a picture left to see, what once used to be
Now it’s gone, there won’t be anymore

From the CD titled Broken People on Cool Groove Records CD 101