NO BRASS BAND
(Lenny Groah / Lou Groah / Steve Singleton)


Jeannie C. Riley - 1968


The train whistle blew for Coal Road Crossin'
In a few more minutes we'll pull into town
I'll have to face the folks who come to meet us
I'll try to keep the tears from fallin' down

It won't be the way we always had it pictured
The day me and daddy went away
He told 'em we'll come back so rich and famous
And you'll have a big brass band all set to play

But there'll be no brass band at the station
There'll be no smiles and no celebration
For daddy there'll just be a black hearse waiting
And no brass band at the station

We left two years ago come next September
The letters I wrote were full of lies
For me and daddy never hit the big time
We got our meals down in a welfare line

Daddy met up with some men who planned a robbery
They said with daddy's brains he'd go real far
But he never got beyond the first cold bullet
Now daddy's in a pine box in the baggage car

And there'll be no brass band at the station
There'll be no smiles and no celebration
For daddy there'll just be a black hearse waiting
And no brass band at the station
And no brass band at the station



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2020)