[Verse 1: Kris Kristofferson]
I played the Red River Valley
And he'd sit out in the kitchen and cry
And run his fingers through seventy years of living
And wonder Lord, as ever, will that drill run dry?
We were friends, me an this old man

[Chorus]
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train

[Verse 2: Waylon Jennings]
He's a drifter and a driller of oil wells
And an old-school man of the world
He'd let me drive his car when he's too drunk to
And he'd wink and give me money for the girls
And our lives were like some old western movie

[Chorus]
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train

[Verse 3: Willie Nelson]
From the time that I could walk, he'd take me with him
To a bar called the Green Frog Cafe
And there were old men with beer-guts and dominoes
Lying about their lives while they played
And I was just a kid they called his sidekick
[Chorus]
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train

[Verse 4: Johnny Cash]
One day I looked up, and he's pushing eighty
And there's brown tobacco stains all down his chin
To me he's one of the heroes of this country
So why's he all dressed up like them old men?
Drinking beer and playing Moon in 42

[Chorus]
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train

[Verse 5: Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings]
The day before he died, I went to see him
I was grown and he was almost gone
So we just closed our eyes and dreamed us up a kitchen
And sang another verse to that old song
Come on Jack, that son-of-a-gun's a-coming

[Chorus]
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train
Like desperados waiting for a train