Written by - Jim Croce & Ingrid Croce

The railroads and the riverboats

That bred the mighty men

That we read about and we dream about

The men who built this land

And the farmers and the lumbermen

And the men who work the mills

And the poor hard workin' miners

Who died inside the hill



Chorus:



While the rivers that flow

Are the blood of our land

And the trucks they keep rumbling

On the great concrete band

And the railroads keep pushin'

To be all they once were

And nature is calling

No one's listening to her



And the immigrants by the boat load in a dozen different tongues

Sang of freedom in the new land

Climb the ladder rung by rung

Some to Boston, some to Pittsburgh

Philadelphia and St. Paul

And the old ways led to new days

They were welcome one and all



Chorus



With the railroads and the riverboats

And the breadlines far behind

And the days we sang together long gone but still in mind

And the men who came before us

Men who brought us to today

And the story still unravels from the dreams of yesterday



Chorus