He drinks orange juice and vodka
In the basement while she's talking
To someone long distance
For hours and hours on end
And as he's slowly sippin'
He thinks about his children
And the heart attacks
That youngest daughter's always giving him
He ain't smoked no marijuana
Since he got on with the railroad
And he's been on with the railroad
For a long and lonesome while
But the day that he retires
He'll smoke himself to China
He'll leave behind his worries
As he's racing through the sky
The days are dark down in the holler
Waitin' for the sun to shine
On the back you have been breakin'
Tryin' to earn peace of mind
She sells Avon to her buddies
And saves a little money
On the makeup she's been usin'
To hide away the years
And she sits and watches TV
Usually every evening
If there ain't some kind of ballgame
That her daughter has to cheer
She sneaks menthols in the mornin'
While her family's still snorin'
And as she burns the Eggo's
She looks back at her life
That heart she broke in high school
He's singing on the Opry
She wonders what the hell
That she was thinkin' at the time
The days are dark down in the holler
Waitin' for the sun to shine
On the back you have been breakin'
Tryin' to earn peace of mind
Their youngest daughter Stella
She's running with this fella
That he cannot stand the thought of
That he surely does despise
He's told her he best never
See the two of them together
But it's hard to keep an eye on her
When you're workin' all the time
There are things he needs to tend to
And the bills the bank keeps sendin'
Lord, the zeros on the end
Keep pushing further to the right
Like a freight train haulin' sorrow
And movin' ever onward
Through the tunnel of forever
To the never endin' light