It is a song by Craig Johnson titled 'Way Down the Road'. You can find a recording of it on Art Thieme's CD 'The Older I Get the Better I Was' Waterbug WGB 0045. I transcribed the lyrics recently because I used it in a presentation. Below is what I hear. Hopefully, Art may be along soon to make any corrections and give you some further info about the song and its writer:

WAY DOWN THE ROAD
(Craig Johnson)

Back in the year of '33
We were still down in Tennessee,
Gettin' by took all your time,
Way down the road.

The word went out in '41
Uncle Sam's gonna get the big job done,
We hired out at Willow Run,
Way down the road.

Chorus:
Blow your whistle, up through the pines,
Out across the mountains and the Clinchfield Line,
Blow for better times,
Way down the road.

Well we come from the mountains and the damp coal mines,
Started in to working on Henry's lines,
Eight hours steady and overtime,
Way down the road.

The city folks didn't want us 'round,
Moved us out to the edge of town,
Salt box houses on the bulldozed ground,
Way down the road.

Chorus

We were strong backs bending in the welder's light,
Rivet guns pounding on a windy night,
A rich man's war, a poor man's fight,
Way down the road.

Punch in, punch out, make your time,
Hurry with the turret boys, you're getting behind,
The bombers roared low in the blacked-out skies,
Way down the road.

Chorus

You try to pay the rent man, you try to save a buck,
Patching up the tyres on a wore-out truck,
City folks pass and holler "Hey Kentuck",
Way down the road.

You say you'll move back south when the war gears down,
Your dreams die easy when your check comes round,
Caught between the mountains and a factory town,
Way down the road.

Chorus

Now he plant's closed down, the gates are closed,
New cars rust in the rain and snow,
Let me sleep where the gum-stick laurel grows,
Way down the road.

You can bury me down in Tennessee,
'He lived for a dollar' - let my tombstone read
"He died unknown in a strange country,
Way down the road".

Chorus (x 2)


--Stewie.