The air is getting hotter   There's a rumblin' in the skies   I've been wading through the high muddy water   With the heat risin' in my eyes      Every day your memory grows dimmer   It doesn't haunt me like it did before   I've been walking through the mirror to nowhere   Tryin' to get to Heaven before they close the door      When I was in Missouri   They would not let me be   I had to leave there in a hurry   I only saw what they let me see      You broke a heart that loved you   Now, you can seal up the book and not write anymore   I've been walkin' that lonesome valley   Tryin' to get to Heaven before they close the door      People on the platforms   Waitin' for the trains   I can hear their hearts a-beatin'   Like pendulums swinging on chains      When you think that you've lost everything   You find out you can always lose a little more   I'm just goin' down the road, feeling bad   Tryin' to get to Heaven before they close the door      I'm goin' down the river   Down to New Orleans   They tell me everything is gonna be all right   But I don't know what all right even means      I was ridin' in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane   Miss Mary Jane got a house in Baltimore   I've been all around the world, boys   And I'm tryin' to get to Heaven before they close the door      Gonna sleep down in the parlor   And relive my dreams   I close my eyes and I wonder   If everything is as hollow as it seems      Some trains don't pull no gamblers   No midnight ramblers like they did before   I've been to sugar town, I shook the sugar down   Now, I'm tryin' to get to Heaven before they close the door