Tryin' to Get to Heaven (Version 1)

[Verse 1]

The air is gettin' hotter

There's a rumbling in the skies

I've been wading through the high muddy water

With the heat rising in my eyes

Every day your memory grows dimmer

It doesn't haunt me like it did before

I've been walking through the middle of nowhere

Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

[Verse 2]

When I was in Missouri

They would not let me be

I had to leave thеre in a hurry

I only saw what they let mе see

You broke a heart that loved you

Now you can seal up the book, you don't have to write anymore

I've been walking through that lonesome valley

Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

[Verse 3]

People on the platforms

Waitin' for the trains

I can hear their hearts a-beatin'

Like pendulums swinging on chains

When you think that you've lost everything

You find out you can lose a little more

I'm going down the road feeling bad

Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

[Verse 4]

I'm going down the river

Down towards New Orleans

They tell me everything's gonna be all right in a little while

But I don't know what "all right" even means

I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-Jane

Miss Mary-Jane got a house in Baltimore

I been all around the world, boys

Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door

[Verse 5]

Gonna sleep down in the parlor

And relive my dreams

I'll close my eyes and wonder

If everything's as hollow as it seems

Some trains don't pull no gamblers

No midnight ramblers like they did before

I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down

Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door