Clickety-Clack - Jt's Song of the Week 2025-07-16

CLICKETY-CLACK
from the album "BLUE YORK"
Copyright © John thomas Oaks
Caliora Music Publishing, ASCAP

Tim Caudill - Bass
Tony Dingus - Dobro
Kevin Moore - Mandolin
Jeff Zona - Guitar

Trevor Reddick and Greg Huffman - Engineers

Mastered by Trevor Reddick

Thanks to the following Pexels artists:

Paul Daley - MART PRODUCTION - smile - Hannah Alicbusan - Athena Sandrini - Rense - Alex Dos Santos - Uriel Mont - Pixabay - Coverr - Olam Musicali - Danilo Obradović

If you call my number, I won’t be home.
And more than likely, I ain’t ever comin’ back.
I’ve had my fill of all these sixty-hour weeks
Ridin’ this old train along this long and lonely track.

“Clickety-clack,” the wheels go.
I can hear that whistle blow.
I’m tired of this conductor’s key
It holds me like a chain.
“Tickety-tock,” the clock goes.
A longing in my heart grows.
One more trip to Brooklyn
And I’m walkin’ off this train.

I left my home down in the West Virginia hills.
I kissed my mama and I told her I’d be fine.
I told my daddy I had better things to do
Than work my life away down in the tunnels of a mine.

“Clickety-clack,” the wheels go.
I can hear that whistle blow.
I’m feelin’ just like Jonah
In the belly of a whale.
“Tickety-tock,” the clock goes.
A longing in my heart grows.
Heaven help my spirit
If I ride another rail.

Underground, the sun is like a stranger.
Underground, the darkness is an envelope that seals you up.
Underground, you never see the bottom of the cup.
It just gets deeper all the while
Mile after mile after mile.

When I make it to that West Virginia line
To see the home and family that I left so long ago,
I’m gonna climb a hill and take this cursed key,
Test the wind and throw it off the highest ridge I know.

“Clickety-clack,” the wheels go.
I don’t miss that whistle blowin’.
Got to tell my mama
She was right and I was wrong.
“Tickety-tock,” the clock goes.
A longing in my heart grows.
One more state to go,
And then I’m back where I belong.