INTRO:  D   
 
D 
There's a big black train I've been hearin' all my life 
                          C                 D 
Every night at sundown I hear it's lonesome cry 
       
When I look through the screen door I see a rocking chair 
                                   C 
My mama's sitting in it thinking 'bout that world out there 
 
CHORUS: 
     G           C             D      G          A              D 
She wants to go over that mountain to see what's on the other side 
             G          C            D     Bm         A          D 
She said "I want to go over that mountain before the day that I die" 
 
SOLO  
D 
She's never set foot out of this poor valley holler 
                                  C                  D 
But she talks about her dreams of some other way of life 
 
87 years of living and never had much of anything 
                               C                   D 
Is it asking too much to see a damned old diesel train 
 
CHORUS 
 
SOLO 
D 
20 years ago today my daddy left this holler 
                          C            D 
He said "I'll be coming back tomorrow night" 
 
I remember the sound of his boot heels in the gravel 
                                     C            D 
Well he ain't been back since and he never said goodbye 
 
CHORUS 
 
 
Bm         A           D 
Before the day that I die