Bobby Bare - The Air Conditioner Song lyrics

Oh, the sound of the thing is not a ring It's more like a pleasant purr And the only sound I hear at night Is the sound of my purring air-conditioner. The air is pure and dehumidified Thermostatically controlled Now I have no desire to perspire And that's how progress goes. But the sound of their singing thrilled me As distantly but clearly it rang Though I never saw their faces And never knew their names. And the gentle breeze brought sweet dreams Of sweethearts that I never saw Who sang "You Are My Sunshine" In Newport, Arkansas... [Narrative by Bobby spoken after song:] (I had a bird he flew away and I guess he's gone to stay But I see him winging on his way my flyaway bird named Yesterday) (He's riding on a train) I'm from Chattanooga Tennessee That's a town that's neither very large nor very small But it was a very strategic place about a hundred years ago Though during the Civil War cause it was a very important rail center In 1862 a federal agent got the idea Of destroin' the railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga So he alone with 27 volunteers captured the train engine called the General And they captured it in big Shanty Georgia While its pa**engers and crew were eatin' breakfast And there was a big chase that followed but finally the General was recaptured In fact that old engine is on display in our train station now And sometimes they take it out on the tour under its own steam Yeah the old General still runs and I go down to the station sometimes And just stand and look at that old engine cause I like trains anyway You know when you think about it trains are not really much different today Than they were a hundred or so years ago Oh the engines have changed from steam to diesel but that's about all Some folks say they're not very practical for carryin' pa**angers And that all the pa**anger trains will be gone in a few years But we still have a few of 'em left and every once in a while I like to get on one and take a trip somewhere And when I'm on a train I always have a strange feeling that I'm visiting the past You know Abraham Lincoln rode trains but he never rode in a car or a bus or an airplane.