The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream
Live at the Evening Muse (2006)


By the western Pennsylvanian
Imaginary scene
Leo talks of trains and steel
There’s a wedding in models
And icicles rattle
And the barn stormers flying for gold

This is The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream
In which my life flashes before an imaginary scene
And I’m harvesting zeppelins
And banging on the rocks
And I’m hoping for a better life
Than the one I’ve got

Nowadays things move much faster
And they’ve long put out the flame
But if this were my world
I would love you just the same

Now Leo’s getting tired
Of servicing the mill
He wants to take a ride
On that little Ferris wheel
And the ferry is empty
The last train has gone home
The hedges need clipping
And the dog’s without a bone

This is The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream
In which my life flashes before an imaginary scene
And I’m pissing off the preacher
And stealing all his wine
And I’m drinking in the alley,
But everything is fine

Nowadays things move much faster
And they’ve long put out the flame
But if this were my world
I would love you just the same

Could you save me
From the little things that terrify me?
Could you save me?

This is The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream
In which my life flashes before an imaginary scene
And I’m choking on the maples
I miss my wife
And its all because of you
That I can’t be with her tonight

Nowadays things move much faster
And they’ve long put out the flame
But if this were my world
I would love you just the same
Just the same
I would love you just the same


Mike Garrigan on "The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream":

I've been keeping my eyes and ears open these days. I've been taking things in and letting them out in some new songs. Last week I was particularly moved by a model train exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center. My interaction with it found its way into a song called "The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream." It's unlike anything I've ever done, and, for that reason, I'm in love with it...for now. I also reserve the right to be fickle and tempermental with my own material. So, last December [2004] on a whim I decided to go drive up to Philadelphia [actually Pittsburgh], for God's sake, and do a show, because I hadn't been there in a long time. And I went up there the day before, which is kind of a mistake because i had nothing to do the day of the show. So, I got two tickets to the science center. I'd like to thank Joe Polk. He's not here, he's in Pittsburgh, somewhere. He said, "Here, here's some tickets." So the whole day I sat and looked at this train set. It was a replica of, I guess, 1890 western Pennslyvania. And I just looked at it and it was really detailed and I wrote this song about it. I guess when I took that Meyers-Briggs tests they said I'd be a museum curator and I guess this is one of those fact-meets-reality type things.

Return

Lyrics gathered by J. Hodge
Click here to submit corrections