the air is getting hotter there s a rumbling in the skies i ve been wading through the high muddy water with the heat rising in my eyes every day your memory grows dimmer it doesn t haunt me like it did before i ve been walking through the middle of nowhere trying 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 a heart that loved you now you can seal up the book and not write anymore i ve been walking that lonesome valley trying to get to heaven before they close the door people on the platforms waiting for the trains i can hear their hearts a beatin like pendulums swinging on chains when you think that you lost everything you find out you can always lose a little more i m just going down the road feeling bad trying to get to heaven before they close the door i m going down the river down to new orleans they tell me everything is gonna be all right but i don t know what all right even means i was riding in a buggy with miss mary jane miss mary jane got a house in baltimore i been all around the world boys now i m trying to get to heaven before they close the door gonna sleep down in the parlor and relive my dreams i ll close my eyes and i wonder if everything is as hollow as it seems some trains don t pull no gamblers no midnight ramblers like they did before i been to sugar town i shook the sugar down now i m trying to get to heaven before they close the door