Chatham County Line LOUISIANA FREIGHT TRAIN It was a hot Mobile night, comments boiled into a fight ‘Til her face she held in her hand She took off her ring, said “What joy did you bring.” A love as counterfeit as the ore in this band Louisiana freight train on my mind Let these steel wheels roll me across the Parish line She should’ve left a long time ago - stopped at hello Should have walked by the day that we met But here we stand - my ring still on her hand And no way to make her forget? Louisiana freight train on my mind Let these steel wheels roll me cross the Parish line Did you ever hear that whistle moan? Be into New Orleans before daylight Into New Orleans before daylight I left her just a note, black as the ink with which it was wrote It said my body will take a river boat and a cannon to find But on a freight box I was bound, to the land that Cortez had found A wife thinking she’d been widowed behind Louisiana freight train on my mind Let these steel wheels roll me across the Parish line My woman she cries “Why’d my man have to die?” She don’t know that it’s a lie