Around a Western Water Tank

Around a western water tank
A-waitin' for a train,
A thousand miles away from home
A-sleepin' in the rain,
I walked up to the brakeman
And give him a line of talk.
He said, 'If you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk.'

'I haven't got a nickel,
Not a penny can I show.'
Get off, get off, you railroad bum—'
And he slammed the boxcar door.
He put me off in Texas,
A state I dearly love.
Wide open spaces all round me,
The moon and stars above.

Standing on the platform
Smoking a cheap cigar,
A-listenin' for the next freight train
To catch an empty car.
My pocket-book was empty,
My heart was full of pain,
A thousand miles away from home,
A-bummin' a railroad train.

I next got off in Danville,
Got stuck on a Danville girl.
You can bet your life she was out of sight,
She wore those Danville curls.
She took me in her kitchen,
She treated me nice and kind,
She got me in the notion
Of bummin' all the time.

As I left the kitchen
And went down in the town,
I heard a double-header blow
And she was western bound.
My heart began to flutter
And I began to sing,
'Ten thousand miles away from home
A-bummin' a railroad train.'

I pulled my cap down over my eyes,
And walked on down the tracks,
Then I caught an empty car
And never did look back.


from Alan Lomax, The Folk Songs of North America, 1960 - #219

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