WAITING FOR A TRAIN
(Jimmie Rodgers)

(spoken) Oh lordy, I left dear old 'Frisco for my home down in Dixieland, but here I am, all stranded, down by the Rio Grand. I'm lookin for a hand out now, as I go on my weary way, the stars are my only blanket, I do my travelling by day.

All around the water tanks
Waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home
And sleeping in the rain
I walked up to a brakeman
To give him a line of talk
He says if you got money
I'll see that you don't walk
I haven't got a nickle
Not a penny can I show
Get off, get off, you railroad bum
He slammed the boxcar door.

Yodel lay hee oh, de lay hee hay, de lay hee

(spoken) If that brakeman only new how bad I want to get back home to my mama, he'd never throwed me off that train. Now I guess I'm goin to have to take this ol guitar of mine out there and play and sing a song, to get me a little bowl of chili.

He put me off in Texas
A State I dearly love
The wide open spaces all around me
The moon and stars up above
Don't nobody seem to want me
Or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from 'Frisco
I'm going back to Dixieland.
Though my pocket book is empty
And my heart is full of pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Just a waiting for the train.

Yodel lay hee oh, de lay hee hay, de lay hee
Odelayhee alayhee alayhee.

Recorded by Gene Autry on the Velvet Tone label (ca 1929-1933)