The old bums sat around by a fire, spoon and match   While the rain played its music on their tar paper shacks   I been waitin' on a ticket to ride on the rusted rails   Their pain fades away as their faces turn pale      Well, Georgie rolled up the shirtsleeves to his arm   Showed the laces that he'd been to, he'd never left the farm   Once you get on it's so hard to get off   It's just full speed ahead as we ride off in the dark      So come along and ride on that old death train   Out of needles we'll embark on a well traveled vein   The rats got off as the bums got on   If the tracks are fadin', we'll be in hell by dawn      So give me a breath of your last cigarette   As we travel the world over goin' deeper in debt   The telegraph poles ae the cross that marks the grave   And the sound of the guitar is the only sound that saves      So come along and ride on that old death train   Out of needles we'll embark on a well traveled vein   The rats got off as the bums got on   If the tracks are fadin', we'll be in hell by dawn