From the recording Wall Dogs
The Last Spike
Tim and I were doing a radio interview with our Canadian friend Ron Moores. At some point, Ron mentioned that he lived just a few miles from where “the last spike” on the trans-Canadian railway had been driven. Although we were only connected by phone, Tim and I could see each other’s eyes light up. Then we wrote this song.
Lyrics
THE LAST SPIKE
(Copyright © 2024, Tim Stafford, Thomm Jutz, Daniel House Music, BMI; Thommsongs SESAC admin. Blue Water)
V) Working round the clock handcarts moved the drift
Every time they crossed a stream they built another bridge
25 thousand ties and a hundred thousand strikes
more dead than alive when they drove the last spike
V) That’s how the West was Won That’s how the West was lost
The barons made the dollars And the workers paid the cost
They barely heard the warning Before the blast of dynamite
Then they kept on laying tracks Till they drove the last spike
V) They called it a day it was the end of a time
that engine disappeared Eastward down the line
All that’s left were stories Of what the land was like
They laid down their heavy hammers When they drove the last spike
V) And when the task was ended, They went their separate ways
Spokane or San Francisco, or back to Boston Bay
An old guitar for comfort and tobacco in a pipe
Laid off and sent away When they drove the last spike