This song has many verses that I sing at the Gateway Arch. Originally written by Merle Haggard for the 200th bicentennial celebration in 1976, it is getting near the 250th anniversary in 2026. I have made modifications and added some verses.

Here at the Gateway Arch, it is a good song to sing. The Gateway Arch National Park is home to the Old Federal Courthouse. This is a place of great injustice in American History. It is a stop on our Freedom Train.

[chorus]
All aboard America here comes the freedom train
All aboard America here comes the freedom train
The freedom train is rolling down two hundred years of track
Two hundred years of glory never to turn back
This train is called America your ticket is a dream
[verse 1]
She left the station in Lexington in 1776
And rode to Philadelphia where the liberty bell was fixed
George Washington was the engineer John Adams shoveled coal
Benjamin Franklin punched the tickets while Jefferson added soul
[verse 2]
She rode to New Orleans for the battle of 1812
Old Hickory held the tiller and drove the British out
The freedom train’s a fine train, she’s finest in the land
Her whistle blew out liberty with a mighty head of steam
[verse 3]
Wheels of fortune sweaty Pittsburgh rolled across the Mississipp’
From Texas to Missouri, yeah, it was one exciting trip
Then crash, bang, broken track, smashed by a cannonball
Blue and grey divided, will the nation stand or fall?
[verse 4]
Will Amistad stepped into the cab and the wheels began to roll
Freedom train must never stop, the Republic never fall
To the bloody fields of Gettysburg tears shown in his eyes
She drove the train with fury and the freedom train survived
[verse 5]
Again the train went westward to California shores
To the deserts and prairies she was stronger than before
From Atlantic to Pacific she rode the rail with pride
She traveled the track to glory with the good Lord at her side
[verse 6]
There’s much more to this story — Wilson and Roosevelt
And Harry S Truman who dropped the big one
And to Dwight D Eisenhower and to LBJ we sing
who brought us to the Great Society of today
[verse 7]
Two brothers known as Kennedy and Martin Luther King
Straightened by her journey and the land beneath her rails
So you and I can ride this train and stoke the freedom fire
For I stand before all America, that honor can’t be hired
[verse 8]
In 1990, Kuwait fell, George Bush decided to give ’em hell.
The Apaches flew in low and took out Saddam at one blow.
[verse 9]
In 2001, the Towers fell, George Bush decided to give ’em hell.
The tanks rolled into Baghdad, and George said, ‘See Dad!’
[verse 10]
In 22, Putin struck, Zelenskyy said, “What the Duck!”
The people filled the streets, shut the banks, and shot the tanks.
[verse 11]
In 23, the Israelis were taken, And America was sorely shaken.
The bombs rained down on Gaza, The soldiers stood by, and the mothers cried.
[Verse 12]
In Twenty Far, we got Sinwar, that is what the war was far.
Oh, yeah the hostages, oh, yeah.