Lyrics
A soldier rides on a train to Tennessee
And half asleep he dreams what isn't a dream
With each click of the wheels on steel a face goes by
With each face that he loves he turns and sighs
And he's headed home, yeah, he's headed home
To try and find his life again
And to wonder what's become of them
That young girl waving goodbye while his mother stood crying
With lips like honey she was loving him all of the time then
Oh, no matter how long you're gone, they wait for you
Now you know you were gone such a long, long time
And you can't go home, no, no you can't go home
Expecting everything you knew to be waiting there on you
That train is moving on down the line
Leaving people at every depot behind
And you want to begin somewhere
But you remember what it's like out there
So you move down the line
And three rows back a young woman looks out the train
Her eyes reveal that her life is desperately plain
She's a woman who's seen this world and not touched one man
She knows she could if she would, but she can't
And she's headed home, yeah, she's headed home
Back where life begins and ends
And you feel that you belong to them
But there was a time, that time when the time was so right
Close enough you swear to God you still smell the night
But somehow the clock struck twelve, the fall was through
Now here you are, could that be you?
Oh, you can't go on, no, no, you can't go on
Living safe inside your walls, never tasting life at all
That train is moving on down the line
Leaving people at every depot behind
You want to begin somewhere
But you'll always take a chance out there
So you move down the line
I sit half drunk in the dining car and observe life
I've got him pegged and I'm pretty sure I've got her right
When you've been as far as I have you know these things
That's the reason that I sat and drank the drinks
'Cause I've got no home, no, and I need no one
Nothing to bring pain again
It's great just living on the wind
But the woman is met by her husband there at the station
And two stops later the soldier's girl is still waiting
And I simply accept the fact they're just lucky, that's all
In fact, I don't believe they pulled it off
And I can't go on, no, no, I can't go on
Making everything I see fit the way that it is for me
That train is moving on down the line
Leaving people at every depot behind
And you want to begin somewhere
But for me it's never true out there
So I move down the line
