Guy Clark – Desperados Waiting for a Train

When I’m in the mood to hear a well-written song, I go to either John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, or Guy Clark. They always hit the spot, and this song is one of those story songs that just stuck with me. I look at some of these songwriters not as normal songwriters but mini movie writers. 

Guy Clark wrote this song in the early ’70s, drawing from his own childhood in Texas. The old drifter in the song, the surrogate grandfather who taught him about cards, women, and hard living, wasn’t made up. Jack Prigg, a wildcatter and oilfield worker, had lived in Clark’s grandmother’s boarding house, and a young Guy Clark soaked up every curse word and story. By the time Clark wrote the song, the memories meant something more universal, a man who refused to fade quietly.

The song was on Clark’s 1975 album, Old No. 1, and it quickly became one of his signature songs. But it didn’t stop there; it was picked up and recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker (first recording of the song), Tom Rush, Rita Coolidge, and, eventually, The Highwaymen (Waylon, Willie, Kris, and Johnny), covering it in 1985. It’s been covered 32 times. Walker, Coolidge, David Allan Coe, and Tom Rush covered it before Guy released his version. 

This is wonderful Americana storytelling is as rich as anything you have heard or watched. He writes these story songs so well that you can see them in your head being acted out like a movie. 

Jack Prigg and a young Guy Clark
Jack Prigg and a young Guy Clark

Jack Prigg was an old oil wildcatter and oilfield worker who lived for a time in Clark’s grandmother’s boarding house in Monahans, Texas, during the 1940s. Clark’s parents had split up when he was young, and he spent a big part of his boyhood around his grandmother’s place. That’s where he met Prigg, who was already an old man by then, tough and weathered from a lifetime in the oilfields. Clark mentioned that he didn’t romanticize the lyrics, he wrote them straight. That’s why this song works, everything is left intact. Clark said, “He was my hero. He was a tough old bird who drank hard, swore a lot, and lived a big life.”

Desperados Waiting For The Train

I’d play the Red River ValleyAnd he’d sit in the kitchen and cryAnd run his fingers through 70 years of livin’And wonder, “Lord, has ever, well, I’ve drilled gone dry?”We was friends, me and this old man

We was like desperados waiting for a trainLike desperados waiting for a train

Well, he’s a drifter and a driller of oil wellsAnd an old-school man of the worldHe taught me how to drive his carWhen he’s too drunk toAnd he’d wink and give me money for the girlsAnd our lives was like some old western movie

Like desperados waiting for a trainLike desperados waiting for a train

From the time that I could walk, he’d take me with himTo a bar called the Green Frog CafeAnd there was old men with beer guts and dominoesLying ’bout their lives while they playedAnd I was just a kid that they all called his sidekick

We was like desperados waiting for a trainLike desperados waiting for a train

One day I looked up and he’s pushin’ 80And there’s brown tobacco stains all down his chinWell, to me he’s one of the heroes of this countrySo why’s he all dressed up like them old men?Drinkin’ beer and playin’ Moon and 42

Just like a desperado waiting for a trainLike a desperado waiting for a train

And then the day before he died, I went to see himI was grown and he was almost goneSo we just closed our eyes and dreamed us up a kitchenAnd sang another verse to that old song“Come on, Jack, that son of a bitch is coming”

And we’re desperados waiting for a trainLike desperados waiting for a trainLike desperados waiting for a trainLike desperados waiting for a train

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

56 thoughts on “Guy Clark – Desperados Waiting for a Train”

  1. Well Max, I am two for two on loving the songs you posted today. This is quintessential Guy Clark – write what you know. For as long as I have followed Clark, I actually didn’t know the details of the Jack Prigg story. Thanks for sharing this Max!

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    1. I think the song is a masterpiece in story telling but the part that was so cool to blog about was Prigg… I mean after hearing the song and what we know about him…you feel like you know him…a bloggers gold mine…at least to me anyway…so interesting. You wish you knew him.

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    2. Since a recording of Red River Valley was made the year Marty Robbins was born, he couldn’t have written it. There is evidence that the song was written in the 1800s. That’s not to take away from some of the great songs he’s written (as well as some schlock and bald-faced propaganda).

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    1. Yes they have. I’ve been just discovering some of these songs…just masterpieces in songwriting. I didn’t know which one to cover with this so I just went with the writer’s version in this case…it could have been any of them and worked….but the Prigg story really got me and how personal it was.

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      1. When in doubt, it’s a good idea to go with the writer before the cover. While I love Jerry Jeff’s version, you made the right choice. (Though I’d advise those that haven’t heard it to go find that cover version.)

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      2. Thanks…that goes along with my thinking as well. I think I heard this by the Highwaymen first back in the day but this version is so personal because of the connection to Prigg. I love side stories like that about real people.

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  4. a songwriter’s songwriter. I’ve never understood why so many like Clark are always just under the radar, us fans know him, JD Souther, creating great songs, but then Jerry Jeff Walker makes them hits. I haven’t watched Austin City Limits for a while, but I loved whenever they had the songwriter circles playing the songs they never seem to get credit for…it’s like my favorite current tune, ‘where have you been’ there’s a doc about the Blue Bird , and features the songwriter, but I mention the song to friends, and yeah they know the song, and Kath Mattea..

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    1. I totally agree with you. Many times the original artist-writer is looked over. That is why 9 times out of 10 I would rather feature the original. It’s not like Clark had a terrible voice or is not the right image…he had it all. I used to watch ACL in the 80s and 90s.

      I’ve seen that doc a few years ago and I’ve been to the Bluebird Cafe a few times back in the late 80s and early nineties.

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      1. I think I heard that the Blue Bird was being closed? Something that’s changed with me and what I listen to as I’ve gotten older is now I’m about more the songwriter, the smaller acts, local, and yes Canadian….sometimes it gets weird, love Steve Earl, but hate Copperhead Road, liked when he played our folk fest, but not when he recently played at a local casino….I guess I’m a selective hypocrite?

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      2. No it’s still open. They did close a few years back because of storm damage and a near tornado miss. We get tornados a lot in the spring.
        LOL…never heard that term. Earl is a great songwriter…no doubt about that. The first song that sent me down his path was I Ain’t Ever Satisfied.

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      4. Oh that is an early one! LOL… I love the part where he talks about the peace he would get…I can relate.
        I never heard the other one…listening now.

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  5. “And I was just a kid they all called his sidekick”. What a great line in context of the song and Guy’s memories. I ate up everything (Still do) that Guy and his buddies came up with. Thanks Jerry Jeff for introducing me to JC.

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    1. I thought about featuring the Jerry version but with Prigg…yea I had to go to the original version. Prigg is someone I would have liked to have met…I’ve known a few in my life…no filter and a hard working life… my mom would be nervous when my uncle Bobby was around…he was the cool uncle with the Marine tattoo…seeing my mom nervous because of his stories…was gold.

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      1. Good story Max.I have a few characters in my past also. You sure have been hit hard by these guys like Guy. They are unmatched in my book. Fortunate to catch them live and they were exactly like what they sound. No bullshit with lots of humor. American treasures.

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      2. I have CB. As a songwriter as much as a music fan. My jaw drops at these songs. No big fancy words but a lot of common words building up to something greater.
        Like I said about John Lee Hooker…Guy didn’t need a band really…he was the band. These songs flow with or without a normal band. I’m jealous dude.

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  6. That’s a great story-telling song. One thing I’ve learned since I changed my stance about country music is that many of the country and Americana-focused songwriters are great storytellers. “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train” is a nice illustration. While based on a quick search of my blog I’ve mentioned Guy Clark a few times, I’ve yet to cover one of his recordings as opposed to a song he wrote and performed by a different artist.

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    1. This one just jumped out at me. I love story songs Christian and yes like you said…it a great one. I can see the song just as much as hearing it in my mind. The words just flow into each other naturally like Guy is telling you on a back porch.
      I was talking to Warren…I don’t understand why his songs are known more with someone else…he had a great voice and his image is perfect.

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  8. Pingback: Guy Clark – Desperados Waiting for a Train – MobsterTiger

  9. Great photo. Important song from an important writer. This brings to mind something else on the subject of story songs. I was reading one of your old posts where you mentioned the death of Stringbean Akeman. Have you heard the song “The Ballad Of Stringbean And Estelle”? It was written by Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson (who did a lot of work with Guy), and Sam Bush. I heard the version by Bush first. If I could post a damn link, I would, but if you search SingOut! The ballad of Stringbean and Estelle, it gives you the whole story and Thompson’s version.

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    1. I never heard it before but I just did! The version that came up was Verlon Thompson…I’ll check out Bush’s version… yea it was the first star death I think I can remember…him, Croce, and Buck Owen’s guitar player around that time. This one though changed Nashville.

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      1. Yes, I think it was a post on Croce I was reading where you mentioned it. We used to watch Hee-Haw, so I remember him dying, but I don’t think I knew he was murdered until years later, but you were right where it happened, of course.

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      2. Yea I remember that and then soon after a terrible case a couple of years later of a girl named Marcia Trimble was killed here selling girlscout cookies. After that parents were a little more watchful than before. I was older then and more aware…I was 8…and I remember it being on the national news.
        Well I sure went morbid! But anyway Nashville wasn’t the same afterward.

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      4. Nah…but the funny thing is I was talking to a friend last week and he brought up Stringbean…the Brown family…some of their relatives lived down the road from me. One of them got out. They don’t live there anymore.

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  11. A beautiful song. Haunting. Soulfully sad. Guy Clark is from my neck of the woods. He grew up in a little town about 40 miles from where I did, in Monahans, Texas– home of the Monahans Sandhills. It’s a state park with miles and miles of Sahara like desert sand dunes and hills stuck in the middle of oilfield country. You can hear the wind, the sand and the loneliness of his origins in his songs.

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    1. Pam, those Texas songwriters must have a cheat code. They have writtten some of the best songs I’ve heard. Guy was one of the best also. Their words just flow together to a story that most can relate to.
      I’ve never been out there but always wanted to go.

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      2. Well you have them everywhere really. I had a friend who traveled all over…you know who he said that had the most? Vermont…I would have never guessed that.
        There is one movie location I would love to visit…where they shot The Last Picture Show

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      3. One of my favorite movies. Cloris Leachman!…her performance is breathtaking. The whole cast is remarkable.

        Anyway, that location is Archer City. It’s a lot better, scenery wise, than where Guy Clark and I are from. Archer City’s not far from Wichita Falls, which is a pretty town with some great swimming holes. It’s not as dusty as it appeared in the film, at least it wasn’t 40 years ago, which is the last time I was there.

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      4. I was outside with a friend of mine who lived in Texas for 10 years while reading your comment…he tended horses down there and was basically a paid cowboy… and one fell on him and it took him a while to get over it. Anyway…after reading him your comment…both of you make me really want to go.

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  16. Oops- almost forgot to get to this & listen in. Lyrically, super tribute to a colorful character, probably looking down smiling at being remembered like that. Musically though…doesn’t grab me much. Kind of goes nowhere. Can’t judge an artist via one song but this one suggests maybe he should stick to writing lyrics and singing and finding a good composer. But, that’s just my one off take

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      1. Max, my late late late grandfather, an old Texas cowboy and farmer said the water in Texas is special, it keeps folks alive way past their shelf life, and makes you smarter than a town dog, so I guess he was right in regards to our song writers.

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  19. So many great Guy Clark songs… Texas 1945, Homegrown Tomatoes, Dublin Blues, Stuff That Works, Last Gunfighter, Randall’s Knife, The Guitar, The Cape

    I couldn’t pick one as my favorite.

    Oh, I should make sure I say that the brief list above excludes the ones Max has posted about.

    Always trust your cape.

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