D                             G
Daddy, what's a train?  Is it something I can ride?
        D                                E7            A7
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
      D               D7          G
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
        D                   A7            D
When my little boy asks me, Daddy whats a train?

[Verse 1]
     D                G
When I was just a boy living by the track
   D                              E7                A7
Us kids'd gather up the coal in a big ol' big gunny sack,
              D                D7           G
And then we'd hear the warning sound as the train pulled into view
        D                                A7               D         D7
And the engineer would smile and wave as she went rolling through;

[Bridge 1]
(spoken)
    G                                     D
She blew so loud and clear that we had to cover up our ears
       E7                               A
And we counted cars as high as we could go.
      D               D7            G
I can almost hear the steam and the big old drivers scream
       A               A7             D
With a sound my little boy will never know.

[Chorus]
D                             G
Daddy, what's a train?  Is it something I can ride?
        D                                E7            A7
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
      D               D7          G
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
        D                   A7            D
When my little boy asks me, Daddy whats a train?

[Verse 2]
  D                                G
I guess the times have changed and kids are different now;
       D                                 E7                A7
'Cause some don't even seem to know that milk comes from a cow.
   D              D7                G
My little boy can tell the names of all the baseball stars
      D                             A7                D
And I remember how we memorized the names on railroad cars:

[Bridge 2]
(spoken)
    G                   D
The Wabash and TP, Lackawanna and the IC
E7                                  A
Nickel Plate and the good old Santa Fe;
D                     D7     G
Just names out of the past I guess they're fading fast
A            A7
Every time I hear my little boy say,

[Chorus]
D                             G
Daddy, what's a train?  Is it something I can ride?
        D                                E7            A7
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
      D               D7          G
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
        D                   A7            D
When my little boy asks me, Daddy whats a train?

[Verse 3]
   D                        G
We climbed into the car and drove down into town
D                               E7          A7
Right up to the depot house but no one was around.
   D                   D7         G
We searched the yard together for something I could show
      D                                    A7             D     D7
But I knew there hadn't been a train for a dozen years or so.

[Bridge 3]
(spoken)
G                         D
All the things I did when I was just a kid
    E7                           A
How far away those old memories appear,
  D                   D7             G
I guess it's plain to see they still mean a lot to me
            D             A7        D
'Cause my ambition was to be an engineer.

[Chorus]
D                             G
Daddy, what's a train?  Is it something I can ride?
        D                                E7            A7
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
      D               D7          G
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
        D                   A7            D
When my little boy asks me, Daddy whats a train?