Tryin' to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door

The air is getting hotter

There's a rumbling in the sky

I'm drifting through that high muddy water

With a full moon shining in my eyes



Every day your memory grows dimmer

It don't haunt me like it did before

I'm in the middle of nowhere

Tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door



When I was in Missouri

They would not let me be

I had to leave there in a hurry

I only saw what they let me see



You broke the heart that loved you

Now you can see what the book cannot write anymore

I'm just stuck in the half-light

Tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door



People on the platform

Waiting for the train

I can feel their hearts a-beating

Like pendulums swingin' on chains



When you think that you've lost everything

You find out you can always lose a little more

I'm in the dinosaurs' waiting room

Tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door



I'm going down the river

Down to New Orleans

They tell me everything is alright

But I don't even know what alright means



I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane

Miss Mary Jane's got a house in Baltimore

I've been to Sugartown; I shook the sugar down

Now I'm tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door



I'm gonna sleep down in the parlour

And relive my dreams

I close my eyes and I wonder

If everything's as hollow as it seems



Some dreams don't pull no gamblers

No midnight ramblers like they did before

I'm just goin' down the road, feelin' bad

Tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door