THE RAIL SONG
Adrian Belew


INTRO & CHORUS RIFF:
E --12----------------12----------------11----------------11----------------
B --10-- (16 times) -- 9-- ( 8 times) -- 9-- (16 times) -- 8-- (16 times) --
G --------------------------------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------------------------------
A --------------------------------------------------------------------------
E --------------------------------------------------------------------------

E --11---------------- 9---------------- 9----------------------------------
B -- 7-- ( 8 times) -- 7-- ( 8 times) -- 7-- (16 times with crescendo) -----
G ---------------------------------------x----------------------------------
D ---------------------------------------0----------------------------------
A --------------------------------------------------------------------------
E --------------------------------------------------------------------------


VERSE 1:
    A 
I recall as a boy we would hop the freights
       Asus4
Wasn't nothin' but a kick back then
          E7
There was no better thrill for my anxious heart
       F#m
Than a long flatcar
        E
Headin' out of the yard

VERSE 2:
And I knew even then she was in my blood
Like the time when I first hired on
And the fireman laughed at my bony nose
But he tossed me a cap
Said GM&O

CHORUS 1:
And I was a man...
I gave her my best years
Well, what can you do but laugh
I don't expect she'll ever be coming back

VERSE 3:
When we climbed up the great Appalachians
Her engines would be raging like hell
Then we'd come back down to the rising towns
Where the cattle stare
In the frozen air

VERSE 4:
For me there nothing more sacred
Than the beautiful sound she'd make
Her long blue signal blowin' deep in the night
It would get to me there
It would get to me there

CHORUS 2:
Now I'm afraid...
Afraid of these silent hours
Awake underneath my old cap
                                          (after 11|7, do 9|7 24 times,
                                           8|6 16 times, 9|7 8 times,
                                           then crescendo chords)
I don't expect she'll ever be coming back

VERSE 5:
Well, I watched the beginning of the end for her
When I saw my first jet airplane
Flying high overhead like a bird of prey
While the mighty fell
In the land of the brave

                 (finish with 12|10 fade)
Now I'm alone...