Three years before the surface of the earth was uninhabitable
By human beings, I took a train
To New York City, through the black hills of Ohio and the
Pennsylvania hills of acid rain
In those days folks were digging, always digging through the limestone,
And the coal and granite and magnesium
For the tunnels and the caves, subterranean rivulets
For the moles that we eventually became
Slavery was everywhere, it was simply necessary
Otherwise the planet was a grave
And sure I guess inevitably, it became a status thing
Some people they just had to have a slave
People were still bitter ’bout the forced sterilization
Of all but ten percent of the population
But in a funny way the pressure of the hunt was off and so
I took my little Mexican vacation
Underneath my seat was a flotation device
In case the train could not avoid the flood
Sixteen trains that summer had already gotten stuck
Where the Atlantic meets the Indiana mud
One half of the people on the train were policemen
As mandated by the senate of the world
But still I somehow met and got to know and jumped the train
With a runaway slavery girl
Oh, sha la la
Shake it, shake it
Runaway slavery girl
Oh, sha la la
Shake your behind
Runaway slavery girl
Everyone had long forgotten ’bout football
And baseball and basketball and rice
The airports were shut and the cars had gone to rust
And the hemispheres had both sunk twice
The sky was purple and we hit the ground running
Our will was strong, our love was made to order
And all we really wanted to do was make it
To the Mexican-Canadian border
We rambled through the hills, Pocahontas, Buffalo Bill
Sometimes I found some work carbon dating
And with nothing but our love and the shirts on our back
And our biologically useless mating
But she rarely had my dinner served
And finally she got on my nerves
And with nothing much left above ground in this world
Sometimes you gotta look after yourself, yeah
One cold night in Philadelphia
I turned in my runaway slavery girl
Sometimes it’s hot
Sometimes it’s cold
Sometimes it’s anybody’s guess
Sometimes you do what you have to
This was one of those times I guess
And now that we’re all underground
I sometimes wonder if she found
Her way or not, or if she’s still a slave
But still and all there’s worse you know
Anyway it wasn’t personal
Just something ’bout those West Virginia waves
Three years or maybe more like two and a half
Before the earth was uninhabitable, I jumped aboard a train
To New York City, through the black hills of Wisconsin and the
Pennsylvania hills of acid rain
Folks were still adjusting to the preparatory chemicals
Administered through widespread inhalation
And so I settled back, nestled in and shut my eyes
For my final little Mexican vacation
Oh, sha la la
Shake it, shake it
Runaway slavery girl
Oh, sha la la
Shake your behind
Runaway slavery girl
