The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #123564   Message #4199152
Posted By: Joe Offer
15-Mar-24 - 06:01 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Hell Bound Train / Hellbound (Hutchison)
Subject: RE: Origins: Hell Bound Train / Hellbound (Hutchison)
Terry SoRelle has a clever video of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKc8d2z9odg&t=0s

Here's his page on the song: https://terrys-songs.net/song/helltrain

And these are the lyrics he uses:

HELLBOUND TRAIN

A rich man he lay on a bar room floor
Had drank so much, he could drink no more
So he fell asleep with a troubled brain
To dream that he rode on that hell-bound train

The engine with blood was sweaty and damp
And brilliantly lit with a brimstone lamp
And imps for fuel were shovelling bones
While the furnace rang with a thousand groans
The boiler was filled with lager beer
The devil himself was the engineer

The passengers were most a motley crew
Some were strangers and others he knew
Rich men in broadcloth, beggars in rags
Handsome young ladies and wicked old hags
White folk and black folk, asian, native and brown,
All chained together; O Lord, what a sound!

Through a strange country the engine did race
As the train rushed on at a terrible pace
Wilder and wilder the country grew
Faster and faster the engine flew
Louder and louder the thunder crashed
Brighter and brighter the lighting flashed

Hotter and hotter the air became
'Til their clothes were all burned with each quivering flame
Old satan leaned out and gave out a yell
"Ha ha," said the devil, "We're nearly in hell!"
Oh how the passengers shrieked with pain
And begged old Satan to stop that train

But he capered about and danced for glee,
And laughed and joked at their misery.
'You've bullied the weak, you've robbed the poor,
The starving refugee you have turned from the door;
'You've justice scorned, and corruption sown,
You tortured the land and made a hell of your own

The rich man awoke with an anguished cry
His clothes wet with sweat and his hair standing high
He fell on his knees and prayed like never before
He swore to mend all his ways and give his goods to the poor
And his prayers and vows were not in vain
For he never rode that hell-bound train