Chords for Brian McNeill-Trains and my Grandfather

_ _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ [C] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
[Cm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _
[Eb] When I was seven [Bb] _
years [Cm] old I [Ab] sat on a train [Eb] rolling east through [Gm] the night
_ [Ab] And my mother sang songs [Eb] just to keep [Cm] out the dark
[Fm] Till we both [Eb] fell asleep [Bb] in the first [Eb] morning _ light _
_ _ [Cm] And I thought [Bb] on my [Eb] grandfather's life as the carriages [Bb] _
_ rolled _ _ _
[Ab] But all [Eb] I knew of them [Gm] were stories [Cm] my mother [Bb] had told _
_ I was seven years old _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] and I waited [Fm] in the station
[Gm] In the wind [Eb] and the steam [Bb] and the rain
_ _ _ _ [Ab] And I can still [Eb] smell the smoke [Gm] and see the look [Cm] in his eyes
[Eb] And his hat and his suit [Bb] and his cane
_ As _ _ [Ab] he lifted [Bb] me down [Eb] from the train
_ _ [Ab] _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _
When I [Eb] was sixteen [Bb] _ [Cm] years old
I _ [Ab] fought with my parents [Eb] like a young [Gm] man should _
[Ab] When the fighting got too rough [Eb] I'd walk with [Cm] my grandfather
_ _ [Fm]
Down to [Eb] the railway [Bb] where the wine [Eb] cellars stood
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _
[Cm] And he'd talk of [Bb] the people [Eb] he'd met and the places [Bb] he'd seen _
_ _ _ Just [Ab] to show that he [Gm] knew all the lives he [Cm] was ridden [Bb] between
_ I was only [Cm] sixteen _ _
_ _ _ When the [Eb] signal man [Fm] asked if I [G] still set [Eb] his watch [Bb] by the train _ _
He _ [Eb] said that he trusted [Gm] the [Cm] Danube Express
_ [Eb] More than many's the watch [Gm] he could [Bb] make
And _ _ [Ab] we watched [Bb] it roll over [Eb] the plain
[Cm]
It [Ab] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ took [Eb] me too [Bb] long to [Cm] return _
He _ _ _ [Ab] was older and smaller [Eb] and fainter [Gm] than me
_ [Ab] But when I looked in his eyes [Eb] I could still see the [Cm] smile _
_ [Fm] And I knew he [Eb] was younger than I'd ever been _ _ _
_ _ _ [Cm] I sat [Bb] there and told [Eb] him the sum of my hopes and [Bb] my fears
And _ _ [Ab] he smiled and [Eb] said laughter [Gm] could always [Cm] cure most of the [Bb] tears
Of _ my thirty-one years _ _ _ _
And when [Eb] I said that [Fm] I'd take the train [Gm] later that [Eb] day for the [Bb] _ West
_ _ [Ab] He said [Gm] he'd go with me, we'd chase [Cm] all the girls
The [Eb] dark ones were [Bb] always the _ best _ _ _
[Ab] He'd remember [Bb] the way [Eb] that they drove
[Ab] A _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ [Cm] _ _ [Fm] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] few months after he [Cm] died _
_ _ [Ab] We drove all night [Eb] till the bad [Gm] weather _ cleared
[Ab] My fiddle beside [Eb] me, my flint [Gm] and my [Cm] saw
On the [Eb] eve of my birthday [Bb] in the spring of the [Eb] year
_ And _
_ [Cm] later [Bb] I called [Eb] out his name as I lifted [Bb] my _ glass
_ _ And [Ab] a Michigan [Eb] train whistle [Gm] answered the [Eb] call as it [Bb] _ passed _
It broke me in [Cm] laugh _ _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] But I smiled [Fm] as I struggled [Gm] to hold [Eb] back the tears [Bb] from my eyes _ _
_ _ [Ab] For I knew it [Eb] was easy [Gm] to talk to [Cm] my grandfather _
[Eb] Each time a big train [Bb] went by
_ _ And [Ab] there was really no [Bb] reason _ [Eb] to cry _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _