Thereabouts I came across another empty hand   Another tin cup shaken by some raggedy old man   Acting blind and keeping time with his thin white cane   He said that Jesus Christ and Judas rode the Desperation Train      I've been torn down and rebuilt again   Felt the cold fire of madness as it ran through my veins   Signals from the green flag   Steam rising in the front cab   I believe we'd left it all behind      On the Desperation Train, they came   All the king's horses and all the king's men   For all those who ride won't be denied   For we all have rode the Desperation Train      Into view the ice truck flew with a smiling man aboard   All pink cheeks and flashing teeth in a bright white unifo  Take the strain   But Charlie Chaplin and Lou Costello rode the Desperation Train      And I've played hard and waited in vain   Seen the red sun of sadness slowly sinking in my brain   I've been driving in the long spikes   Laying rails in the cold night   I believe we'd left it all behind      On the Desperation Train, they came   All the king's horses and all the king's men   For all those who feel fate turns the wheel   Of the last car home on the Desperation Train      We've all been there, been born too late   From Joan of Arc to Norma Rae      Men without shame, we came   The last on this line and freed from our chains   For all those who chose the road leading home   We'll never put them back together again      For all those who ride, they won't be denied   For we all have rode the Desperation Train