Artist: Merle Haggard Album: Hag-The Studio Recordings 1969-1976 (2007) Title: Silver Ghost
Lyrics Silver Ghost(Sterling Whipple)
On a cold and rainy night I was sittin' by the light Of my switchman shack a mine post on the mountain The storm was pretty bad, the telephone was dead But it was just eleven hours till the dawn.
Then much to my surprise the telegraph jumped into life As I read the code I thought could this be true A train was on its way headed up to mountain grade But she didn't have no engineer or crew.
At the other switch they tried to put her on the mountain side But she kept on coming up the mountain grade Then I quickly dowse the light to try to see into the night Maybe I could spot her headlight in the rain.
She was poundin' down below I could hear her whistle blow And I thought Lord that's a high and mournful sound Then the telegraph again there's a cave-in at the mine And a hundred men are burried neath the ground.
Lord, she's coming now I see her round the bend and straight at me And her boiler's glowin' red as coal in hell Her headlinght switchin' wide searchin' all the mountain side But the only sound she's making it's a wail.
Then I recognized the train by the number and the name It's from miners Silver Ghost ol' 41 Then she vanished up the track by the lonely switchman shack Like a mother who was looking for her son.
Now I once heard a story how an engine went to glory Over fifty years ago on this same line It was steaming for a cave-in there were men needed savin' But it missed the curve in trestle near the mine.
Every now and then you'll hear a whistle on the wind If a mountain slides and many men are lost It's a high and lonely wail and searching up and down the mountain It's a train they call the Miners Silver Ghost.
It's a train they call the Miners Silver Ghost. It's a train they call the Miners Silver Ghost... |