verse 1 Line of crosses in the path The wire highway of the telegraph On a sea of prairie snow Like a picture of long ago verse 2 And I was riding on the wheel I was thinking on the past Looking out across the fields Watching people turn to photographs And every sailor knows the truth About the anchor and the chain Got to hold them close to you If you don’t want to drift away again Every gyspy knows the way Like the buttons on his vest And the sun lies down before you Out on the big east west verse 3 In the silo up ahead The golden promise of the sun Grinded into your daily bread Bring it home to your loved ones verse 4 Once in every now and then When you get back from the wars You turn around and you’re gone again To that wide open shore And every sailor knows the truth About the anchor and the chain Hold them close to you If you don’t want to drift away again Every gyspy knows the way Like the buttons on his vest And the sun lies down before you Out on the big east west On the big east west