I thought I'd add some lyrics to this thread that were collected by a family friend; they are slightly different from Sam Devere's sheet music:

RIDING ON THE ELEVATED RAILROAD

(Variant collected by Winfred (Wendy) L. Holt in 1930's
Originally by minstrel performer Sam Devere 1878)

Riding on the elevated railroad –
I'll tell you all about it in my song;
I looked in all the second story windows
As the little train was moving right along;
Some were eating, some were drinking, some were sleeping,
Some were laughing, some did cry –
Some very funny sights I saw there,
And I took them in as I went by.

Chorus:

Riding on the elevated railroad –
It's pleasant and it just suits me;
If you take it day or night,
You'll say that I am right,
Some very funny sights you'll see.

In the first house I saw a woman washing,
While the steam was flying thick about her head;
In the next house I saw a little darling,
She was trying hard to make up the bed;
In the next house a woman was frying beefsteak;
She was a fighter for she had a wicked eye,
While her husband was singing to the baby,
"We'll be happy in the sweet by and by."

In the next house I saw a lively bull pup,
He was chasing a cat for life about the room;
In the next house a woman having a picnic,
She was trying to stab her husband with a broom;
In the next house I saw a lot of Dutchmen
Eating sauerkraut and drinking larger beer;
In the next house a fellow and his sweetheart,
He was doing his level best to chew her ear.

In the next house I saw an aged bachelor,
He was trying to sew his pants up with a nail;
In the next house I saw a little baby,
It was trying hard to bite a poodle's tail;
In the next house I saw a woman waiting
For her husband dear to come and get his tea –
But I saw him in the house upon the corner
With another fellow's wife upon his knee.

I suspect that this elevated line featured one of those small coal burning locomotives, rather than the later electric ones.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble