Genie, it's Greg Brown's "The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home". You can hear Iris Dement singing this song HERE (ARCHIVED PERFORMANCE OF A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION June 15, 2002; click on "31:34").

THE TRAIN CARRYING JIMMIE RODGERS HOME

Come along, my dear, the time is growin' near,
We'll have to walk down where the field is overgrown.
Consumption has claimed his life and we dare not miss the sight,
Of the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

Well, we had some hard times these last few years,
Lost the farm, almost lost our spirits, too.
Yeah, but it's the strangest thing; when we heard that man sing,
Oh, we knew somehow we'd make it through.

I can hear that whistle blow; that old train is rollin' slow,
Sounds like it's cryin' for the singin' brakeman, too.
Back to the sunny south he'll go, and he'll never roam no more,
Here's the train, oh hold me close, oh sweetheart do.

Come here my little fella and let me hold you up.
I want you to remember this day when you're grown.
How your mama and your dad were so proud and so sad,
Watchin' the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

There goes the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home. Oh-de-loh (yodel)

~Masato