That Mountain

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 'bout 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" Well she's never set foot Out of this poor valley holler Though she talks about her dreams Of some other way to fly 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 Before the day that I die"