Midnight Train to Nowhere

[Intro Riff – Dirty Texas Shuffle Groove] [guitar left – slide, right – muted shuffle] [spoken, deep male voice, tape echo] Where we goin’, baby? [chuckle] Hell if I know… [Verse 1] [shuffle drums, walking bass, stinging lead guitar] Bought a ticket south — (bought a ticket south!) But the tracks ain't straight — (ain’t straight, no way!) Every stop I hit Just seals my fate [Slide guitar break, harmonica bend] Left my name in smoke, [spoken low] burned the past, walked away But this train to nowhere Ain’t lettin’ me stray [Break – Dirty Guitar Lick + Laugh FX] [echo] Ha-ha-ha… nowhere... nowhere... [Chorus] [full band, backing vocals, echo] Midnight train to NO-WHERE! It’s the ride I chose (ride I chose!) No tracks, no signs — just ghosts in clothes I scream out loud — [shouted] "Where's the light?" But all I get Is the howl of night... [Slide guitar squeal – hold and echo] [Verse 2] [groove slaps back in – harmonica lead-in] My shadow’s drunk, My past just grins, (heh, you back again?) No compass works When the soul wears sins [short riff break – call and response guitar licks] I chase the dawn But I ride with pain — This ain’t a path It’s a cursed rail chain [Break – Instrumental riff only: Harmonized guitar + harp solo] [voice drop, whisper over the break] nowhere... no-one... nothing but noise... [Chorus – variation with NLP hook focus] Midnight train to NO-WHERE! Say it once — (now say it twice...) No-wheeeere... No-wheeeere... [slapback echo on 3rd repetition] Burnin’ tracks I can’t erase — I see my fate in the brakeman’s face And he smiles… [spoken with reverb] He always smiles... [Bridge – slowed down, moody groove, ambient feedback swirl] [haunting female background voice, barely audible] "you can't run forever..." [deep male vocal, distorted, whispered] You can ride the edge, You can fake the light, But when midnight calls — You're alone in the fight... [cliffhanger: silence, one cymbal crash] [Final Chorus – altered text, call/response, vocal FX-heavy] [guitar chokes and bends – harmonica wails high] Midnight train to NOWHERE! Now I ride it proud — (crowd? loud?) No dreams, no plans, just thunderclouds Blew my name like smoke Off a bourbon flame — But you’ll never forget THE SOUND OF MY NAME! [echo, layers: “name... name... NAME...”] [guitar slam, scream harmonica, sudden stop] [Outro – Laugh, harmonica fades out with reversed delay FX] [deep voice, dry reverb] Nowhere’s where I found my sound.