Downbound Train - Chuck Berry

The Downbound Train - Chuck Berry

A stranger lying on a bar room floor

Had drank so much he could drink no more,

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 were shovelling bones

While the furnace rang with a thousand groans.

The boiler was filled with lager beer

The devil himself was the engineer,

The passengers were most a motley crew,

Some were foreigners and others he knew.

Rich men in broadcloth, beggars in rags

Handsome young ladies and wicked old hags.

As the train rushed on at a terrible pace

Sulphuric 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

Till their clothes were burned

and they were screaming with pain.

Then out of the distance there came a yell

Ha ha said the devil we're nearing home,

Oh how the passengers shrieked with pain

And begged old Satan to stop that 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.