Jim Blakes Message - Carter Family

«Jim Blake, your wife is dying»

Went over the wires tonight

The message was brought to the depot

By a lad all trembling with fright

He entered the office crying

His face was terribly white

And this message to dad and his engine

«Mother is dying tonight»

In something less than an hour

Jim’s answer back to me flew

«Tell wife I’ll be there at midnight

I’m praying for her, too»

«I left my son in the office»

Said the message to Jim’s wife

I found the dying woman

Was scarce of breath and life

For hill and dale and valley

Thunders a heavy train

Its engine is sobbing and throbbing

And under a terrible strain

But Jim hangs on to his throttle

Guiding her crazy flight

And his voice cries out in the darkness

«Godspeed the express tonight»

I telephoned the doctor

«How is Jim’s wife?"I asked

«About the hour of midnight

Is long as she can last»

In something less than an hour

The train will be along

But here, I have a message

Oh God, there is something wrong

The message reads «Disaster»

The train is in the ditch

The engineer is dying

Derailed by an open switch

And there’s another message

To Jim’s wife it is addressed

«I'll meet her at midnight in heaven

Don’t wait for the fast express»