On upcoming album Okie, Vince Gill reclaims a slur against his fellow Oklahoma natives while examining how mass migrations to the West Coast in the '20s and '30s shaped a nation and its music.
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The latest single off the album, "I Don't Wanna Ride the Rails No More," fits the historic narrative while relating to all lonely travelers.
"The whole image of riding a train has such great beauty to it," says Gill in a press release. "It conjures images of The Grapes of Wrath, the Dust Bowl and people hopping freight trains. This song has got to come from my experience in order to be able to put it on paper and to have it feel legit and truthful and honest. In my case it could very well be about a bus instead of a train—I've been riding a tour bus for 40 something years now. This is a song of reflection, yearning and hopefulness."
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"I Don't Wanna Ride the Rails No More" backs up the 62-year-old Hall of Famer's previous notion that all 12 album cuts double as autobiographical statements.
"I thought this was going to be a songwriter record, not a concept album," Gill said in a statement. "It wound up being more information than I'd envisioned. A friend sent me an email saying, 'You could have only written this record after living a 60-year-plus life.' He said, 'There's no struggle in these songs, just truth and your experience.'"
Okie arrives Aug. 23.
"I Don't Wanna Ride the Rails No More" Lyrics
Well I've been hopping freight trains all my life
I woke up cold and hungry in the middle of the night
I've been on the wrong end of a drunkard's night
And nowhere to send the letters that I write
And now and then I've seen most every single town
But never stopped quite long enough to ever hang around
'Cause that whistle makes a mighty lonesome sound
It's been on my mind, I'd love to settle down
And I don't wanna ride the rails no more
I wanna know, oh, is love worth dying for?
Hear children playing through an old screen door
No I don't wanna ride the rails no more
The train's pulling up at half past nine
The waitress said, "Hey stranger, how 'bout one more glass of mine?"
We kept talking and we lost our own track of time
The train pulled out, left us there behind
And I don't wanna ride the rails no more
I wanna know, oh, is love worth dying for?
Hear children playing through an old screen door
No I don't wanna ride the rails no more
For the first time in my life I didn't run
I felt your arms around me and my rambling days were done
Something changed deep inside of me
The radio played Love Is All You Need
Oh I don't wanna ride the rails no more
I wanna know, oh, is love worth dying for?
Hear children playing through an old screen door
No I don't wanna ride the rails no more
Oh I don't wanna ride the rails no more
I wanna know, oh, is love worth dying for?
Hear children playing through an old screen door
No I don't wanna ride the rails no more
No I don't wanna ride the rails no more
No I don't wanna ride the rails no more
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