[Intro]
The hopeful heart said go
The hopeful heart said go
The hopeful heart, the home of art
The hopeful heart said go

[Verse 1]
I did not mean no harm
Nor cause to be alarmed
I can't escape the fact
Of Buster's broken back
Buster was my friend
I knew him like my skin
I never thought I'd be
Sad for such a show

[Verse 2]
We had a good time for a week before we crashed them trains
Touring two-bit Texas towns along the open plains
Fifty thousand people came to scream and drink and dance
And feel the force as chaos met uncertain circumstance

[Verse 3]
I was riding on a stallion elegant and white
Proudly looking down upon the fruit of my delight
'Ol ninety-nine was painted green, a thousand and one was red
But after they collided, a bunch of folks was dead
[Bridge]
Anticipating fury the people crowded close
As the fateful hour plotted its approach
The rumble of the engines faintly heard at first
Was building as suspense descended like a curse
The trains came roaring down at fifty miles an hour
Mounting tension like a match tempting blasting powder

[Interlude]

[Pre-Chorus]
The two machines ripped into each other like
A pair of bears disembowelling themselves in a fight
The outcry of the crash was louder than the thunder
Pealing after storm clouds consume the skies of summer
I saw black clouds of iron hail blocking out the light
Dealing death and open flesh--it was a wreck, all right

[Verse 4]
Those boilers blew and soon I knew this sordid episode
Had marooned me with mourning and the gutless ghost of hope
It sat upon my shoulder and then became a boulder
Until two trains exploded leaving me alone and older
Once I hoped this humbug would lead me to the glory
I would gain by turning smoke into tomorrow's stories
[Chorus]
But the Ghost of Hope said no
The Ghost of Hope said no
The Ghost of Hope, the Prince of Nope
The Ghost of Hope said NO!

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!