A Whole Different Story

The raiders and the rebels

Back in eighteen sixty-two,

Left a story 'bout a stolen train

That never made it through,

I was there among the raiders

And believe forevermore,

That we could'a pulled it off

If we left the day before,

We planned to steal it Friday

And then burn the bridges down,

So the rebels couldn't follow us

To Chattanooga town,

'Cause our Union army forces

Planned to take it in a raid,

And we didn't want their trains

Bringing soldiers to their aid.

We stole fifty-seven tons

Of smokin' steamin' train,

Headed north to Chattanooga

In the early morning rain,

We stopped just short of victory

The rebels got the glory,

Had we left the day we planned

You'd read a whole different story.

We heard that it was storming

Up the Chattanooga way,

And our leader thought our Union boys

Might need another day,

So we waited for the morning

And we worried through the night,

Then we cursed the rain we saw

In the early morning light.

The day before was sunny

And the bridges would have burned,

And the trains were running right on time

Without the least concern,

But on Saturday, the rails were

Much too crowded up with trains,

And the bridge we tried to burn

It just smoldered in the rain.

We stole fifty-seven tons

Of smokin' steamin' train,

Headed north to Chattanooga

In the early morning rain,

We stopped just short of victory

The rebels got the glory,

Had we left the day we planned

You'd read a whole different story.

Bluegrass / Western Lyric by Dennis Goodwin - copyright 2008 e-mail: ezywriter47@hotmail.com