Fog is thick like a heavy wool coat
Cold air catches inside of my throat
Engine humming a low steady beat
Black ice forming on every side street
I see him standing by the rusted gate
Playing songs for a ghost and a date
Wooden case open wide on the floor
Waiting there for a closing steel door
Play that iron rail waltz in the gray
Hold the midnight until it is day
Saw the bow hit the string like a blade
In the dark where the fortunes are made
He don't move when the diesel train screams
He is stitching together the seams
Of a city that forgot how to pray
While the taxi cabs all drive away
Play that iron rail waltz in the gray
Hold the midnight until it is day
Saw the bow hit the string like a blade
In the dark where the fortunes are made
Check the meter and lock up the door
I can't take this long shift anymore
But the melody cuts through the haze
Lighting up all the industrial maze
Steel on steel makes a thunderous sound
Vibrating deep in the frozen hard ground
He just closes his eyes to the glare
With a focused and desperate stare
Five bucks tip for a song in the mist
A survivalist twist and a wrist
Now I'm turning the wheel to the west
Giving this old tired engine a rest
Play that iron rail waltz in the gray
Hold the midnight until it is day
Saw the bow hit the string like a blade
In the dark where the fortunes are made
Play that iron rail waltz in the gray
Hold the midnight until it is day
Saw the bow hit the string like a blade
In the dark where the fortunes are made
Keep the meter running fast
Make the final cadence last
Iron rail waltz.
