A soldier rides on a train to Tennessee And half asleep he dreams it isn't a dream With each flick of the wheels a new face goes by With each face he loves he turns and sighs
And he's headed home Yes, yes, he's headed home Tryin' to find his life again 'Cause he wonders what's become of him
Three rows back a young woman looks out the train Her eyes reveal that her life is desperately plain She's a woman who's seen this world and not touched one man She knows she could if she would but she can't
And she's goin' home Yes, yes, goin' home Back where life begins and ends And they feel that you belong to them
That train's just movin' on down the line Leavin' people who ever did fall behind And you wanna begin somewhere But you'll always take a chance out there So you go down the line Down the line . . .
I sit half drunk in the dining car and I observe life I got him pegged and I'm pretty sure I got her right When you've been as far as I have you just know these things That's the reason it's sad they drank those drinks
'Cause I got no home No, no, I need no home Nothing to bring pain again It's great just livin' on the wind
But the woman is met by her husband there at the station And two stops later the soldier's girl is still waitin' I simply accept the fact they're just lucky, that's all But the fact is I don't believe they pulled it off!
And I can't go on No, no, I can't go on Making everything I see Fit the way life was for me
That train's just movin' on down the line Leavin' people who ever did fall behind And I wanna begin somewhere But for me there's nothing true out there So I go down the line Down the line . . . go on down the line . . . go on down the line . . .