Midnight Soul Train

Lyrics

[Intro – Instrumental only, 12 seconds. Solo blues harmonica plays a deep, mournful melody with long bending notes. Traditional country pedal steel guitar answers with slow, sweeping slides. Rolling banjo enters, followed by brushed snare creating a steady clickety-clack railway rhythm. Deep upright bass joins.] [Verse 1 – Deep, gravelly male bass-baritone country vocal. Rolling banjo and brushed drums. Gentle pedal steel guitar fills between lines.] There's an old abandoned railway, where the desert meets the night, Coyotes cry at midnight, while the moon is high and bright. They say a ghostly engine, comes rolling down that line, And the souls of fallen cowboys have boarded for the last time. [Verse 2 – Steady locomotive rhythm. Prominent country pedal steel guitar slides between vocal phrases. Blues harmonica answers.] The driver wears a black coat, with a lantern in his hand, His face is hidden in the smoke, in this God forsaken land. He calls out for the passengers, who wander through the sand, And checks their names against a book, then tells them where to stand. [Chorus – Full traditional country instrumentation. Strong rolling banjo, brushed railway rhythm, upright bass and sweeping pedal steel guitar.] All aboard the midnight train, Hear that whistle cry! Rolling down those rusty rails, Beneath a blood-red sky. No return and no more stops, No turning back again, Just a one-way ride to eternity, On the midnight soul train. [Instrumental – 12 seconds. Featured blues harmonica solo with deep expressive bends. Country pedal steel guitar answers with long melodic slides. Banjo and brushed snare maintain the railway rhythm.] [Verse 3 – Deep storytelling vocal. Banjo and upright bass continue. Soft harmonica fills and mournful pedal steel guitar.] There's a gambler from Nevada, with a bullet in his chest, An outlaw from the border, with a rope mark round his neck. A preacher sits beside them, with a Bible on his knees, While a soldier stares through empty eyes, from all the things he's seen. [Verse 4 – Locomotive rhythm builds. Stronger brushed drums, rolling banjo and expressive pedal steel guitar.] The train rolls through the mountains, where no living man has been, Past graves of forgotten strangers, where lost souls are seldom seen. The windows show their memories, of the lives they left behind, And every soul sits silent, as their earthly days unwind. [Chorus – Full country arrangement. Prominent pedal steel guitar, rolling banjo and blues harmonica between phrases.] All aboard the midnight train, Hear that whistle cry! Rolling down those rusty rails, Beneath a blood-red sky. No return and no more stops, No turning back again, Just a one-way ride to eternity, On the midnight soul train. [Instrumental Break – 20 seconds. Traditional Nashville-style pedal steel guitar takes the lead, playing long, haunting slides and melodic country phrases. Blues harmonica responds with a deep, bending solo. Fast banjo picking and brushed snare imitate accelerating railway wheels.] [Bridge – Music slows dramatically. Deep spoken-sung male vocal. Sparse banjo, soft upright bass and mournful pedal steel guitar slides.] Now somewhere past the canyon, Where the stars no longer shine, The driver calls another name, And the next one could be mine. [Final Chorus – Powerful traditional Western country sound. Full rolling locomotive rhythm, strong pedal steel guitar melodies, blues harmonica and banjo.] All aboard the midnight train, Hear that whistle cry! Rolling down those rusty rails, Beneath a blood-red sky. No return and no more stops, No turning back again, Just a one-way ride to eternity, On the midnight soul train. [Outro – Brushed snare gradually slows like railway wheels coming to a halt. Banjo fades. Solo blues harmonica plays a final low, mournful melody. Prominent pedal steel guitar answers with one long descending slide.] [Deep, gravelly male spoken voice] "Last stop... eternity." [End – Instruments fade into silence.]