A life-long renegade, singer/songwriter David Allan Coe was one of the most colorful and unpredictable characters in country music history. One of the pioneering artists of the outlaw country movement of the '70s, he didn't have many big hits — only three of his singles hit the Top Ten — but he was among the biggest cult figures in country music throughout his career. Born in Akron, OH, Coe first got into trouble with the law at age nine. As a result, he was sent to reform school. For the next 20 years, he never spent more than a handful of months outside of a correctional facility — he spent much of his twenties in the Ohio State Penitentiary.
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The Great Nashville Railroad Disaster Lyrics

David Allan Coe

One sultry summer morning in the year of 19-18
Three hundred men with ebony skin pulled out of Union Station
Headed out of Nashville for western Tennessee
Homeward bound cause Uncle Sam closed down the munitions factory
At that very moment on the Cheatham County line
Old No 1 train from Memphis was runnin' way behind
Buck in the smokey club car a Memphis gamblin' man
Said gentlemen I'm foldin' these cards cause I drew a dead man's hand

A young man in a milk truck out near Dutchman's Grade
Said my God two trains one track then he closed his eyes and he prayed
A sister from the orphan's home made a cross upon her chest
Cause a one iron beast was comin' from the east
And another one was comin' from the west
The birds flew from the treetops as the impact shook the ground
The scaming wheels and the grinding steel could be hard for miles around
The birds flew from the treetops...

Now every July 9th a few miles west of town
To this day some folks will say you can hear that mournful sound
One sultry summer morning in the year of 19-18
Three hundred men with ebony skin pulled out of Union Station