Slow Train

Sometimes feel so low-down and disgusted,

Can't help but wonder what's happening to my companions:

Are they lost or are they found? Have they counted the cost it'll take to bring down

All their earthly principles they're gonna have to abandon?

And there's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

I had a woman down in Alabama,

She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic,

She said, "Boy, without a doubt, have to quit your mess and straighten out,

You could die down here, be just another accident statistic."

And there's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

All that foreign oil controlling American soil –

Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed!

Sheiks walking around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose-rings,

Deciding America's future from Amsterdam into¹ Paris –

And there's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

Man's ego's inflated, his laws are outdated,

They don't apply no more, you can't rely no more to be standing around waiting.

In the home of the brave, Jefferson turning over in his grave,

Fools glorify themselves trying to manipulate Satan –

And there's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

Big-time negotiators, false healers, and woman-haters,

Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition,

But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency,

All non-believers and men-stealers talking in the name of religion –

And there's a slow––there's a slow train coming up around the bend.

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting –

Well, you know, it costs more to store the food than it do to give it!

They say, "Lose your inhibition, follow your own ambition",

They talk about a life of brotherly love – show me someone who knows how to live it!

There's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

Well, my baby went to Illinois with some bad-talking boy she could destroy,

A real suicide case, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I don't care about economy, I don't care about astronomy,

But it sure does bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets –

And there's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

¹ I'm not certain that Dylan says "into" here both because it's difficult to make out what's said and because it sounds a little strange (according to other sources, Dylan sings "and to", which also sounds strange and which makes a little less sense).