While riding on a train goin' west,
I fell asleep for to take my rest.
I dreamed a dream that made me sad,
Concerning myself and the first few friends I had.
With half-damp eyes I stared to the room
Where my friends and I spent many an afternoon,
Where we together weathered many a storm,
Laughin' and singin' till the early hours of the morn.
By the old wooden stove where our hats was hung,
Our words were told, our songs were sung,
Where we longed for nothin' and were quite satisfied
Talkin' and a-jokin' about the world outside.
With haunted hearts through the heat and cold,
We never thought we could ever get old.
We thought we could sit forever in fun
But our chances really was a million to one.
As easy it was to tell black from white,
It was all that easy to tell wrong from right.
And our choices were few and the thought never hit
That the one road we traveled would ever shatter and split.
How many a year has passed and gone,
And many a gamble has been lost and won,
And many a road taken by many a friend,
And each one I've never seen again.
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain,
That we could sit simply in that room again,
Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat,
I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.
I was laying in bed, late last night
found the answer to all my ills
A great big tree growin green and free
full of ten thousand dollar bills
I went downtown to buy some wheels
bought every car in town
Then I bought all the gas and all the oil
so we all could drive around
Then I bought a big department store
and everything inside
You could back up a truck and fill it up
cause the doors were all open wide
It was company policy, we did it all the time
Then I bought the park
and I hired a band to play everyday for free
I bought the bars and the trolley cars
and the Telephone Company
You can call all day, say how's it goin'
never have to pay
Send telegrams to your wife and friends
say you don't have to work today
After a while, I got so bored
I sold the whole town back
All I kept was a Bar-n-Grill
by the northbound railroad track
You can stop by here anytime of night
or anytime of day
The second cup of coffee's free
but the first one you got to pay!