we are climbing

jacob's ladder

we are climbing 

jacob's ladder

out of these boxcars

and out of these chambers

out of the bed where we lay

with ten strangers

we are climbing 

jacob's ladder

we are climbing

on jacob, jacob's ladder



it's a fish white belly

a lump in my throat

razor on the wire

skin and bone

piss and blood

in a railroad car

one hundred people

gypsies queers

and david's star



this train is bound for glory

this train is bound for glory

this train is bound for glory now

this train

yeah



measure the bones

count the face

pull out the teeth

did you get them all? 

do you belong

to the human race

doctor doctor

are you unkind

do you shock the monkeys

cover our eyes

with clear blue skies





ah

this train is bound for glory

ah

this train is bound for glory

ah

this train is bound for glory now

ah ah

this train



here is a dancer

who has no legs

here is a teacher

who has no face

here is a healer

who has no hands

here is a runner

who has no feet

here is a thinker

who has no head

here is a builder

who has no back

here is a writer

who has no voice

these are the questions

these are the answers

stacked like wood



this train is bound for glory

this train is bound for glory

this train is bound for glory now

this train



this train is bound for glory

this train it carried your mothers

this train is bound for glory

this train it, it carried your fathers

this train is bound for glory now

this train it, it carried your sisters

this train

this train it, it carried your brothers

(here is a teacher) 

this train it, it carried my sisters

(here is a writer) 

this train it, it carried my brother

(here is a thinker) 

this train is 

this train is bound for glory



these are the questions 

stacked like wood

these are the answers

here is potential

and it's gone for good