Jeannie C. Riley
No Brass Band
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'll come to meet us
I'll try to keep the tears from falling 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 Colt bullet
Now Daddy's in a pinebox in the baggage car
And there'll be no brass band...
And no brass band at the station