Lyrics

A cold wind blows through my windowpane
As we ride through the dusty plain
Snow will fall on the mountainside
When I become a miner’s bride

My true love lies in a soldier’s grave
And with him died the love he gave
The only thing that I can claim
A child with his eyes but not his name

Oh my love, don’t think too hard of me
I could not bide in Tennessee
Now I ride along this railroad track
And I know I’m never coming back

My mama gave away my hand
And sent us to a stranger’s land
He says we’ll live by the riverside
When I become a miner’s bride

I feel the winter coming on
In those mountains far beyond
Before they claim us as their own
I fear the snow will have my bones

Oh my son, don’t think too hard of me
I could not bide in Tennessee
Now I ride along this railroad track
And I know I’m never coming back

Oh you should have seen her
Raw and wild as they came
Promising wealth without measure
If only she would be tamed

We broke our backs to charm her
Gave her our blood and our bones
Until we won her gracious favor
In a bed among the stones

Play the concertina
Lay your burden down
Remember when days were sweeter
And raise a glass to Galena

Oh you should have seen her
Dressed in her finery
Shining bright as any
Jewel of the Owyhee

We traded our picks for walking canes
Forgot wives we left on the farm
And stole down tiger alleyways
With girls from the line on our arm

She made us a name when we staked our claim
In her arms we grew up so fast
How could we know that the live we loved so
Wasn’t meant to last

Oh you should have seen her
When we’d taken all she could give
The bounty we had won from her
We thought we’d never outlive

A penny curiosity
Old bones in a pinewood vale
No one to say what she’d meant to be
And no one to tell her tale

Play the concertina
Lay your burden down
Remember when days were sweeter
And say a prayer for Galena

Oh how we loved you, Galena

Fly away little starling
Go on and leave me be
How you shake me from my dreaming
Beneath the willow tree
Beneath the willow tree

Be still little starling
Don’t you sing your mocking song
Cause it rings with the echoes
Of all that I done wrong
Of all that I done wrong

Oh starling
Oh starling

Send a sweet little sparrow
Or a snow white dove
To ease my poor heart
With the memory of his love
With the memory of his love

Oh starling
Oh starling

Fly on little starling
Why won’t you hear my plea
No peace ’til you take wing
Little starling set me free

Oh starling set me free
Oh starling
set me free

I was born on a bad luck day
By the old railroad station
Mama and Daddy taught me to pray
But I never wanted salvation

Oh the Devil clapped me on the back
When I was nigh thirteen
Dyed my eyes from blue to black
And he made me hard and mean

Better get back on that train boys
If you know what’s good for thee
You’ll get much more than you bargained for
When you tangle with me
When you tangle with me

Mama cried when Daddy tried
To beat the Devil from my bones
They prayed for God to be my guide
But my heart had turned to stone

In the old train yard I took ‘em down
In ones and twos and threes
And every tough that came to town
Learned better than to mess with me

Better get back on that train boys
If you know what’s good for thee
You’ll get much more than you bargained for
When you tangle with me
When you tangle with me

When Uncle Sam said he wanted me
I took the first train down the track
And ended up in Normandy
With a rifle on my back

Left Gerry on that bloody shore
When the cap said give ‘em hell
Took down a score but I wanted more
Even when them Gerrys fell

Better get back on that train boys
If you know what’s good for thee
You’ll get much more than you bargained for
When you tangle with me
When you tangle with me

Came home with a chest full of brass
And a slug stuck in my side
Holed up in the bottom of a glass
And a-spoiling for a fight

I’ll take you on ’til my last breath
With fist or bottle or blade
And when I shake the hand of Death
They’ll carve this on my grave

Better get back on that train boys
If you know what’s good for thee
You’ll get much more than you bargained for
When you tangle with me
When you tangle with me

Meet me by the mountain track
Just before the morning
We’ll climb up the camel’s back
And watch the day a-dawning

Let’s float down the cool green river
While the sun warms our skin
Watch the breeze make the cottonwoods shiver
And confess to each other our sins

One more time
Call me your sweet summer darling
Just one more time
Before the leaves start falling

Let’s pile on into the truck
And drive into the city
Let the boys try their luck
With the girls they think are pretty

And if they ain’t done romancing
After the sun goes down
Maybe we’ll all go out dancing
On the north side of town

One more time
Call me your sweet summer darling
One more time
Before the leaves start falling

If you drive us past the city lights
I will tell you the names of the stars
And we’ll kiss in the moonlit night
to a chorus of spanish guitars

One more time
Call me your sweet summer darling
One more time
Before the leaves start falling

One more time
Call me your sweet summer darling
One more time
Before the leaves start falling

Falling
I am falling
One more time

Falling
I am falling
One more time