Joan Baez - Engine 143 songtext (lyrics)

Along came the FFV the swiftest on the line
Running o'er the C&O road
Just twenty minutes behind
Running into Sou'ville headquarters
On the line
Receiving their strict orders from
A station just behind

Georgie's mother came to him with
A bucket on her arm
Saying my darling son be careful how you run
For many a man has lost his life
In trying to make lost time
And if you run your engine right
You'll get there just on time

Up the road he darted against
The rocks he crashed
Upside down the engine turned and
Georgie's breast was smashed
His head lay against the firebox door
The flames were rolling high
I'm glad to be born for an engineer
On the C&O road to die

The doctor said to Georgie my
Darling boy lie still
Your life may yet be saved if
It is God's blessed will
Oh no said George that will not do
I want to die so free
I want to die with the engine I
Love one hundred and forty three

The doctor said to Georgie your
Life cannot be saved
Murdered upon a railroad and laid
In a lonesome grave
His face was covered up with blood
His eyes they could not see
And the very last words poor Georgie said
Was nearer my God to thee