Airport — In Station

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
End of the red, end of the gold, the bottom of the map,
where the whole world changes planes and never minds the gap;
Hartsfield-Jackson humming, the busiest sky on Earth —
a one-seat ride from Terminus, for whatever you are worth.

Atlanta was born as an ending —
the last stop, the iron stake, the red clay at the line —
and now the ending runs to the world's beginning
and rolls the whole South out through this door of mine.

[Chorus]
Airport — the door, the southern end,
the first of Atlanta, or the last, my friend;
step off the train and into the world,
or in from the world to the heart unfurled.
(everybody comes through here… everybody comes through here…)

[Verse 2]
They say if you fly in the South you connect through here first,
the gateway and the terminus, the blessing and the curse;
a quarter-billion souls a year come through the gates,
and the train is always waiting where the runway waits.

From the zero-mile post to the zero-hour flight —
the city that was born at the end of the line
rolls right through the gate, rolls into the light,
rolls the whole world home, one more time.

[Bridge — harmonica enters, the locomotive groove]
I'm the handshake and the goodbye of the town,
the only rail that lands you where the jets come down —
roll, roll, roll on the iron-vein line
from Terminus to the terminal, every time.

Welcome to Atlanta. The train kept a-rollin'.
Mind the doors. You're right on time.

[Outro — harmonica + concourse hum fading]
…changing planes… changing trains…
…and the whole South rolls through the gate…
…roll, roll, roll…