Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - "Southwest Chief"

Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - “Southwest Chief" from the album TexiCali on Yep Roc Records.

Purchase here: https://ffm.to/texicali

Written by Dave Alvin / Bill Morrissey

Dave Alvin: vocal, lead and electric guitars
Jimmie Dale Gilmore: harmonica
Chris Miller: electric slide guitar
Lisa Pankratz: drums, percussion
Brad Fordham: electric bass
Bukka Allen: piano, harmonium


LYRICS
Leaving Chicago on the Southwest Chief
past old brick buildings on bootlegger streets
At the back of the train in the cold midwest wind
I hear the engine howl and feel alive again

chorus:
Southwest Chief, let your whistle blow
wherever you're heading, I want to go

Racing through cornfields and nameless small towns
porch lights coming on as the suns going down
Folks I've known and loved keep crossing my mind
as the Chief keeps on pushing and making up lost time

Remembering my friend, Bill Morrissey,
we were gonna write a song but that never came to be
"Make it a blues" he said, ''Sweet, tough and sincere
cause we only come round once and then we disappear"

repeat chorus

Kansas City has lightning, Colorado has rain
the simple things in life are so hard to explain
like your lover's voice whispering your name
or a prairie sunrise from the back of a train

The hills of Santa Fe are dusted with snow
and spirits dance above the land of the Navajo
so I say an old prayer I learned as a child
about the hopeless, the helpless, the damned and the wild

repeat chorus

Days from Chicago on the Southwest Chief
riding steel wheels and searching for some peace
Crossing the Mojave, coyotes running by
then through the mountains where the condors still fly

Soon freeways and tract homes are all that I can see
so I close my eyes and think of what the future might be
The conductor hollers, ''It's the end of the line!"
but I think I'll stay right here and ride you one more time

repeat chorus