Collected by
Mary Celestia Parler;
Transcribed by
Neil Byer
Mrs. Christine Harvey
Fayetteville, Ark.
January 20, 1954
Reel 199, Item 8
The Freight Train Blues
I was born in Dixie in a boomer's shack,
Just a little shanty by a railroad track,
The humming of the drivers was my lull-a-bye,
The freight train whistle taught me how to cry.
Chorus:
I've got the freight train blues, lawdy, lawdy, lawdy,
Got 'em in the bottom of my rambling shoes
And when the whistle blows I got to go, oh, lawdy,
Guess I'm never going to lose the freight train blues.
Now my Daddy was a fireman and my Mama dear,
She was the only daughter of an engineer,
We loved a brakeman and it ain't no joke,
It's a shame the way they keep a good man broke.
(Chorus)
Now I know I'm old enough to stop my running around,
I've tried a hundred times to stop and settle down,
Every time I find a place I want to stay,
The freight train whistles and I'm on my way.
(Chorus)