That's how they found him...
He was howling at the moon.
Sitting right there on the railway tracks
With the train a'coming.
There was a string of wild flowers
Draped around his collar.
And when he saw the men were coming for him,
Well he began to holler.
He cried:
"TAKE ME AWAY! TAKE ME AWAY!"
But the men cold not be sure
If he was talking to them,
Or talking to the oncoming train.
His mama she watched religion on the TV
Each day from dawn to dusk.
And at night when she'd hear him howling,
Well, she'd cry out to Jesus.
For years she begged the sweet redeemer
To heal her crazy son.
Until finally she just gave up on miracles
And called the men to come.
She told them:
"Take him away. Take my son away!
Cause after 20 long years
I've simply run out prayers to pray."
But as he stood to fight the men,
From the other side of the railway bed,
He thought he heard the calling voice
Of an old friend he thought long dead.
But when he turned away from the men
He found it was a stranger calling him
And as if he knew that man,
He smiled and raised his hand
As he stepped into the golden sun
Of the headlight of the oncoming train.
And as he did he locked eyes with that stranger
And cried out one last time.
He cried,
"TAKE ME AWAY! TAKE ME AWAY!"
And to this day, in this little town,
Not a soul knows what he was trying to say
All them years of shouting take me away.
No, no one knows what he was trying to say
Or who that stranger was.