Pantograph - Diesel/electric Dreams

Verse 1

Chrome

Cold cylinders

Sixteen separate chambers

Piston rings scraping against the walls

Suction

Compression

Ignition and then the release

Force

Driven down through the connecting rods

The crankshaft turns

Torque like a giant waking up

Slow

Heavy

Mechanical metal heat

Chorus

Diesel-Electric Dreams

The copper coils are spinning fast

The juice is flowing through the line

Diesel-Electric Dreams

The power of the traction motor

Pulling every ton of steel

Tons of steel

Tons of steel

Verse 2

No gears

Just current

The alternator breathes fire

Sending high voltage to the bogies

Magnetic fields locking together

The force

Moving mountain weight

Moving ocean freight

Moving city states

Gridlock broken by the prime mover

Steady

Constant

Efficiency defined in black smoke

Carbon

Iron

The rhythm of the heavy freight

Chorus

Diesel-Electric Dreams

The copper coils are spinning fast

The juice is flowing through the line

Diesel-Electric Dreams

The power of the traction motor

Pulling every ton of steel

Tons of steel

Tons of steel

Bridge

Kinetic energy turns to heat

Resistors glowing on the roof

Dynamic braking

Slowing the giant

Without a single spark of friction

Holding it back

Holding it back

Holding it back

The world is built on

The world is fed by

The world is moved by this

Guitar Solo

Chorus

Diesel-Electric Dreams

The copper coils are spinning fast

The juice is flowing through the line

Diesel-Electric Dreams

The power of the traction motor

Pulling every ton of steel

Tons of steel

Tons of steel

Post-Chorus

Steel cycle's pulling the world Diesel-Electric

Dreams

Outro

Low frequency rumble

Vibration in the ballast

Dissolving into the fog

Vanishing

Gone

Silence remains