THE FENCE AROUND THE TRAIN
       Jim Terr © 2012 Blue Canyon Music BMI

I ‘member as a 10-year-old the pleasure it would bring
To climb aboard the Number 9 and make that brass bell ring.
That old steam engine stood so proud and tall there in the park.
So what if we climbed up in there and played til almost dark?

The brakes and levers even then were painted pretty thick.
You couldn’t move a lever, turn a wheel or throw a switch.
But Lordy what a wonderland of pipes and valves and gears.
I felt like something special as an Iron Horse engineer.

CHORUS: But now it’s sitting idle there inside a chain link fence.
I ‘spose that in a world of lawsuits that must make some sense.
Perhaps a bit more than it should, it causes me such pain:
That 10-foot iron fence around the train.

A kid could fall and break an arm or lose a toe or two
From playin’ up there carelessly as kids are prone (bound?) to do.
But goodness what a way to spend the day and go for miles
While lookin out that window keepin’ one eye on the dials.


CHORUS 2: It wasn’t just that engine that (defines?) another age.
My childhood, too, is also of another time and gauge.
Perhaps a bit more than it should, it causes me such pain:
That 10-foot iron fence around the train.
Yeah Lord I hate that fence around the train.

SKIP THE IN-BETWEEN
  Jim Terr © 2012 Blue Canyon Music BMI

Now they say that there’s a reason that grandparents and grandkids
Get along like nobody else does or ever did.
(spoken line): It’s just a joke but there may be some truth in it, you see.
The reason being they both share a common enemy!

But seriously, folks, the truth may be a big bit more profound:
A child comes into this world with sweet love all around,
He loves and trusts cuz everyone is there to fill his needs.
They long to hold him when he cries, nurse him when it’s time to feed  (modulate)

And older folks have set aside the battles they once fought.
They’re quick to hug and share their love and forgive as they’ve been taught.  --
But there’s) fifty years or so between, where struggle is the game,
Where battles rage on every page and tears and trials reign.

CHORUS: I know it wouldn’t be natural, but still I wish we could
Just stretch out the start and end of life that seem so good.
Yes I sometimes wish that like a fish you could just jump straight downstream,
Go from young to old and skip the in-between.      (turn-around and modulate)

Yes take those early times of trust and curiosity,
Extend them out til maybe 22 or 23.
And stretch back the sweetness of later years where all ya want to do
Is try to share with others whatever good has come to you.

CHORUS: Like skippin’ through a magazine from the front part to the end,
I wish we could – I s’pose we should – get that goodness back again.
Yeah I wish that like a flying fish I could sail right straight downstream,
Go from young to old and skip the in-between.
Yeah, maybe life could go from mostly red to mostly green,
If we stick with love and skip the in-between.

HAGGARD AND JONES 
  © 2012 Jim Terr – Blue Canyon Music BMI

You can go back to Hank, the first country star.
But to be really frank, I don’t go back that far.
He and Jim Reeves are somewhere deep in my bones   --
--But for me it really) started with Tammy Wynette and George Jones.

He Stopped Loving Her Today, and my heart tore right out.
D-I-) V-O-R-C-E and Something to Brag About.
We’re Not the Jet Set – what a beautiful thing.
And it kills me to hear about that Golden Ring.

CHORUS: Haggard and Jones, Tammy, Tom T.
Will country) ever again sound like country to me?
In a world of computers, Starbucks and iPhones,
(AS I GET CLOSER TO JESUS, TAKIN’ ME HOME),
I need what I once got from Haggard and Jones.

      -let me tell ya about Haggard--
If We Make it through December, we’ll know how mama tried
The Roots of My Raisin' were my Mama’s Hungry Eyes 
Big City, Daddy Frank and That’s the Way Love Goes.
Anything by Merle tends to Sing Me Back Home.

CH: Haggard and Jones, Tammy, Tom T.
Will country) ever again sound like country to me?
In a world of computers, Starbucks and iPhones,
I need what I once got from Haggard and Jones.

      -and what can ya say about Tom T?
Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine
I Flew Over Our House The Year Clayton Delaney Died
She Gave Her Heart to Jethro, The Force, the Shoeshine Man,
Nothin’ anyone on this earth could not understand.

CH: Haggard and Jones, Tammy, Tom T.
Will country) ever again sound like country to me?
In a world of computers, Starbucks and iPhones,
I need what I once got from Haggard and Jones.

Yeah Tom T. anytime can Sing Me Back Home.
With a high note and low note from Haggard and Jones.

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