From the recording Ride the Pony (tell the story)
Once, when I was hitchhiking through Oklahoma on the way to Florida, I stood for hours beside an empty two-lane road in that beautiful state watching freight trains racing along one after the other in the valley below. I caught a ride, though I've always wished I had the nerve to run down to the tracks and hop a train.
Lyrics
I'll say goodbye
To you, Old Oklahoma
I can't say you didn't treat me well
But I was born and raised
Beside a man-made river
Of cold steel and cross-ties
And there in love I fell
With a lady on the move
Each night I heard her calling
And Sweet Oklahoma
I'm sure you know the rest
She moves too fast
And there's times
She treats me poorly
But the purring of her engine
Is the sound I love the best
So run, run my darlin'
On through another city
Hurry sweet freight train
On through another town
Don't give me the time
To find another lover
'Cause sure as I'm living
I'll die if I slow down
Oh, Oklahoma,
Some times I want to see you
I Ihink of the times
When it was just me and you
But you killed my daddy
Because he wouldn't leave you
And I know if I stayed there
You'd want my body, too
So run, run my darlin'
On through another city
Hurry sweet freight train
On through another town
Don't give me the time
To find another lover
'Cause sure as I'm living
I''ll die if I slow down