Lyr. Add: FREIGHT TRAIN BLUES

I hate to hear that engine blow, boo-hoo.
I hate to hear that engine blow, boo-hoo.
Every time I hear it blowin' I feel like ridin' too.

Got the freight train blues, I've got boxcars on my mind,
Got the freight train blues, I've got boxcars on my mind,
Gonna leave this town, because my man is so unkind.

I'm goin' away just to wear you off my mind,
I'm goin' away just to wear you off my mind,
And I may be gone for a doggone long, long time.

I asked the brakeman, "Let me ride the blinds,"
I asked the brakeman, "Let me ride the blinds,"
The brakeman said, "Clara, you know this train ain't mine."

When A woman gets the blues she goes to her room and hides,
When a woman gets the blues she goes to her room and hides,
When a man gets the blues he catches a freight train and rides.

Composed by Thomas Dorsey and Everett Murphy, copyrighted 1924. Lyrics above from Clara Smith's recording (first recorded by Tessie Smith on Paramount, 1924) of 1924 on Columbia. There were many following recordings with some variants, and under different titles, by Ed Bell, Blind Willie McTell, Yank Rachel, and Tampa Red. Jimmie Tarlton wrote "Freight Train Ramble," modeled on Jimmie Rodgers' Blue Yodels.
The last verse ('woman goes to her room and hides" echos "She jes' tucks her head- and she cries-" from "The Railroad Blues, 1915, Robert W. Gordon, and "she wring her hands and cry," from "The Railroad Blues" by Floyd Canada, Texas, slightly before 1915.
All information and lyrics from Norm Cohen, "The Long Steel Rail," pp. 402-403, 446-449, 1981, Univ. Illinois Press.