Daddy What's a Train?

Daddy, what's a train? Is it something I can ride?
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
When my little boy asks me Daddy what's a train?

When I was just a boy and living by the track,
Us kids would gather up the coal in big 'ole gunnysack,
Then we heard the warning sound as the train pulled into view,
The engineer would smile and wave as she went rolling through.

(photo from John G. King collection)

She blew so loud and clear, we had to cover up our ears,
And we counted cars just as high as we could go.
I can almost hear the steam and those big old drivers scream,
With a sound my little boy will never know.

(photo from John G. King collection)

Daddy, what's a train? Is it something I can ride?
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
When my little boy asks me Daddy what's a train?

(photo by William P. Price. from the author's collection)

I guess the times have changed, kids are different now,
'Cause some don't even seem to know that milk comes from a cow.
My little boy can tell the names of all the baseball stars,
I remember how we memorized the names on railroad cars.


The Wabash and the TP, Lackawanna, the IC,
Yeah, the Nickel-Plate, the good old Santa Fe.
Just names out of the past, I guess they're fading fast,
Every time I hear my little boy say.


Daddy, what's a train? Is it something I can ride?
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
When my little boy asks me "Daddy what's a train?


We climbed into the car, drove down into town,
Right up the depot house, but no one was around.
We searched the yard together for something I could show,
But I knew there hadn't been a train for a dozen years or so.


All the things I did when I was just a kid,
How far away those old memories appear.
I guess it's plain to see they still mean a lot to me,
'Cause my ambition was to be an engineer.


Daddy, what's a train? Is it something I can ride?
Does it carry lots of grown-up folks and little kids inside?
Is it bigger than our house? Well how can I explain
When my little boy asks me Daddy what's a train?

Words and music by Utah Phillips.



Utah Phillips was a folk singer, storyteller, poet, and was described as the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest. Phillips loved trains and recorded several albums of music related to the railroads, especially the era of steam locomotives. His first recorded album, ‘Good Though!’, contained the songs “Daddy, What's a Train?” and “Queen of the Rails,” as well as his most famous composition, the tall tale “Moose Turd Pie,” wherein Phillips tells of his work as a gandy dancer repairing track in the Southwest.

Old Utah caught his final train on May 23, 2008 at the age of 73.