You can see the sheet music for this song at the Levy Collection:


PORTERS ON A PULLMAN TRAIN
Words and music by Charles D. Crandall
New York: Hitchcock and McCargo, ©1880.

1. We need no introduction; you can see just who we are:
Porters on a Pullman train,
Standing at the platform of the sleeping car,
Ready, quick, and willing to explain.
Where you are located, we must be remunerated.
Don't forget the little friendly tip.
We think you oughta give us a qua'ta',
For then you'll have a very pleasant trip.

CHORUS: Porter, porter, give us more air; porter, the window please close.
Porter, this pillow is hard as a rock; porter, come give us more clothes.
Porter, come here; porter, stay there.—All night the people complain.
We are Porters, dandy porters, and we run on the vestibule train
We are porters, dandy porters; we run on the vestibule train.

2. To study human nature, you should travel on the rail.
Those that have the least to say
Are the cultivated, sure as you are born.
They don't try to make a grand display.
But the very shoddy are always dressed so gaudy,
Try to make us think they know it all.
Uneducated and overrated,
While ev'ry night we listen to their call.

3. When our through run is finished, then we strut Sixth Avenue,
With our girls we then parade.
There's style about a darkey dressed in Pullman blue,
That places other darkies in the shade.
We don't carry razors, or wear the striped blazers,
Or with the lower folks associate.
Aristocratic and not erratic,
We're always at your service, never late.