Utah Phillips - Wabash Cannonball / Tolono Lyrics

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