Wabash Cannonball/tolono Lyrics - Starlight On The Rails: A Songbook - Utah Phillips

Listen to the jingle the rumble and the roar as she glides along the woodland 

ore the hills and by the shore 

hear the rush of the mighty engine hear the lonesome hobos call 

he's riding through the jungle on the Wabash cannon ball 

VERSE 

now the western states are dandies so the southern people say from Chicago 

and St. Louis 

and Peoria by the way 

to the lake of Minnesota where the rippling waters flow no chances to be 

taken on 

the Wabash cannon ball 

VERSE 

she pulled in to the station one cold December day 

as she rolled up to the platform you could hear all the people say 

now theirs a gal from Birmingham she's Elong and she's tall she came down 

from Georgia 

on the Wabash cannon ball 

VERSE 

now heres to daddy claxton may his name forever stand 

and always be remembered in the courts of all the land 

his earthly race is over and as the curtain falls 

we'll carry him back to Dixie on the Wabash cannon ball 

Wabash Cannonball 

I was headed for Tolono on the Wabash Cannonball 

Norfolk and Western all the way 

St. Louis down the line, Detroit somewhere behind 

I thought I heard that old conductor say 

No round trip ticket, you're on the final run 

This Cannonball is never comin' back 

Tomorrow she'll just be another memory 

And an echo down a rusty railroad track 

I got off at Tolono, just below Champagne 

A flagstop on the edge of yesterday 

The whistle blew a song, I whispered "So long" 

Waved my hand and slowly walked away 

No round trip ticket, you're on the final run 

This Cannonball is never comin' back 

Tomorrow she'll just be another memory 

And an echo down a rusty railroad track 

I think about tomorrow, wonder why it is 

We give up all the things we love the most 

Goodbye, you old hog. I'll have to ride the Dog 

Till they build a subway coast to coast 

But no round trip ticket, you're on the final run 

This Cannonball is never comin' back 

Tomorrow she'll just be another memory 

And an echo down a rusty railroad track