(Chip Davis, Bill Fries)
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On a cold November mornin'
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Back in nineteen-thirty-seven
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With an early snow a-fallin'
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On the three-foot tracks at Ames
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Came a mighty strange contraption
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Known to trainmen as a motor
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But to folks in Colorado
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She was known by another name
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Up the canyons south of Sawpit
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Past the red Cathedral spires
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'Cross the yellow mountain switchbacks
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And the rapids far below
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On the high and lofty trestles
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Near the fabled mines of Ophir
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In the silver San Juan Mountains
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Came a goose a-plowin' snow
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[Chorus]
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With a Pierce-Arrow engine,
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Runnin' hot and on the loose
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Came the Rio Grande Southern
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The Gallopin' Goose
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With a Pierce-Arrow engine
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Runnin' hot and on the loose
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Came Number Five, The Gallopin' Goose
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'Twas a four-door auto-mobile
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On a dozen wheels of iron
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Sixteen feet of rockin' boxcar
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Spot-welded to her tail
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Loaded down with mercantile
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Ten bags a' high-grade ore
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Two mothers nursin' babies
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Seven miners an' the mail
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Up the side a' Sunshine Mountain
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By internal gas combustion
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Eight Pierce-Arrow pistons pullin'
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Fifteen thousand pounds a' lead
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At the snowshed on the summit
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The conductor said his prayers
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He declared a busted driveshaft
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On the pass at Lizard Head
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[Chorus]
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With a Pierce-Arrow engine
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Runnin' hot and on the loose
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Came the Rio Grande Southern
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The Gallopin' Goose
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With a Pierce-Arrow engine
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Runnin' hot and on the loose
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Came Number Five, The Gallopin' Goose
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[Musical interlude here.]
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Down the three-percent to Rico
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In the valley of Dolores
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They still talk about the Southern
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An' her flock of flyin' geese
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From the roundhouse at Ridgway
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To the depot at Durango
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All the tracks are gone for scrap iron
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And the ganders rest in peace
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Up the canyons south of Sawpit
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Past the red Cathedral spires
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'Cross the yellow mountain switchbacks
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And the rapids far below
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On the high and lofty trestles
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Near the fabled mines of Ophir
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In the silver San Juan Mountains
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There's a legend in the snow
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[Chorus]
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With a Pierce-Arrow engine
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Runnin' hot and on the loose
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Came the Rio Grande Southern
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The Gallopin' Goose
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With a Pierce-Arrow engine
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Runnin' hot and on the loose
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Came Number Five, The Gallopin' Goose
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-----------------
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The Gallopin' Goose
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| C.W. McCall |
