There's a big black train I've been hearing all my life
Every night at sundown I hear its lonesome cry
When I look through the screen door I see a rocking chair
My mama's sitting in it thinking about that world out there
She wants to go over that mountain
To see what's on the other side
She said, "I want to go over that mountain
Before the day that I die"
She's never set foot out of this poor valley holler
But she talks about her dreams of some other way of life
Eighty seven years of living and never had much of anything
Is it asking too much to see a damned old diesel train?
She wants to go over that mountain
To see what's on the other side
She said, "I want to go over that mountain
Before the day that I die"
Twenty years ago today my daddy left this holler
He said, "I'll be coming back tomorrow night"
I remember the sound of his boot heels in the gravel
Well, he ain't been back since and he never said goodbye
She wants to go over that mountain
To see what's on the other side
She said, "I want to go over that mountain
Before the day that I die"