california zephyr

threw out the couch
cleaned off the windows
shaved down the door
to last through the winter
pulled up the floorboards
early that morning
later that evening
hammered 'em down

the gifts were all numbered
and placed in an order
with our favorite pictures
arranged in a row
the phone kept on ringing
but we never did answer
and the record we played
was california zephyr

that train ran all night
right past four in the morning
the conductor kept bragging
he knew everyone's name
I stayed up all night
watching for my father
waving his hands
as we crossed the wild west

I thought that conductor
thought we were all the same person
and the folks in Shoshone
would not understand
so I crossed both my fingers
and I pulled down a pillow
and the song in my head was
california zephyr

written by Steve Dawson and Brian Dunn
© whisk head music/songs of polygram inc., int'l, bmi.