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12 Dec 07 - 11:50 AM (#2213880) Subject: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: GUEST,Jonathan Hewlett Hey, can someone please tell me the lyrics to the RR song, If I Die A Railroad Man. It was recorded by RCA Victor in the early 1900's. |
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12 Dec 07 - 12:34 PM (#2213902) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: Mr Happy "If I die a railroad man, Go bury me under the tie, So I can hear old Number Four, As she goes rolling by." "If I die a railroad man, Go bury me under the sand, With my pick and shovel at my head and feet And a nine-pound hammer in my hand" |
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12 Dec 07 - 01:08 PM (#2213924) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: Joe Offer Cohen's Long Steel Rail mentions the song twice, but does not have lyrics. It was on RCA Victor LPV 532, The Railroad in Folksong - I sure with that album were available on CD. Mr. Happy, where did you get the lyrics you posted? Is that the complete song? Recording is available at Honking Duck - gee, maybe they have the whole album. I can't pick out the lyrics very well. -Joe- |
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12 Dec 07 - 01:58 PM (#2213956) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: GUEST,Jonathan Hewlett I checked honking duck but they don't have lyrics and I tried listening to the song but they told me, "SORRY WE DON'T HAVE THAT ONE." I have a recording of it but I can not make out the words well. |
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12 Dec 07 - 02:15 PM (#2213977) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: GUEST,Jonathan Hewlett Those are not the right lyrics. It goes sort of like this. Railroad is spanish? cars on the track? take my girl to germany and it'll never bring her back. Fare thee well my darling fare thee well my dear. Fare thee well my darling I cannot leave you here. The last verse goes, If I die a railroad man bury me beneath the ties so I can hear old number 9 as she goes rolling by. |
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12 Dec 07 - 02:16 PM (#2213978) Subject: Lyr Add: IF I DIE A RAILROAD MAN From: 12-stringer Here's three versions, all closely related and set to the same melody: Tenneva Ramblers, "If I Die a Railroad Man," Victor 21406, rec 18 February 1928: Railroad is finished, cars on the track Take my girl to Cuby, and'll never bring her back. chorus: Fare you well, my darling, fare you well, my dear Fare you well, my darling, I hate to leave you here. See the engine coming, coming around the bend, Puffing and a whistling, with a load of soldier men. chorus If I die a railroad man, bury me beneath the tie, So I can hear old Number 9 as she goes rolling by. chorus When I go to Germany, I'll hear the cannons roar Fare you well, my darling, I'll think of you no more chorus Now I'm goin' to Germany, I won't be back till fall And if I see the Kaiser, I won't be back at all chorus [nb, this is from the track issued on 78 RPM; the "Railroad in Folksong" LP cut was an unissued take) Railroad is finished, cars on the track Take my girl to Texas, I'll never bring her back. chorus Fare you well, my darling, fare you well, my dear Fare you well, my darling, I hate to leave you here. I see the train a-coming, coming around the bend Puffing and a whistling, with a load of railroad men. chorus If I die a railroad man, bury me under the tie So I can hear old Number 9 as she goes rolling by. chorus When I ride old Number 9, I'll hear the whistle blow Fare you well, my darling, I'll think of you no more. chorus When I go to Texas, I won't be back till fall, And should I wreck old Number 9, I won't be back at all. chorus Take me over to Cuby, I'll cross the waters o'er Take me away to Cuby, you'll never see me more. I go to Cuby, I'll cross the waters wide I go to Cuby, I'll marry me another bride. Railroad is finished, cars on the track, Take me away to Cuby, they'll never bring me back. Engineer blows the whistle, fireman rings the bell, Brakeman takes the ticket, conductor's drunk as [blank]. |
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12 Dec 07 - 02:54 PM (#2213997) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: GUEST,DWR Sorry, no lyrics, but I did post the complete notes from RCA Victor LPV 532, The Railroad in Folksong in this thread http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21019 That may be of some interest. |
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13 Dec 07 - 09:48 AM (#2214485) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: Mr Happy Joe, Its from here @displaysong.cfm?SongID=3244 John Henry 2, last two verses |
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13 Dec 07 - 04:56 PM (#2214801) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: GUEST,Jonathan Hewlett The song sounded more like this. Railroad is finished, cars on the track Take my girl to Germany, and I'll never bring her back. chorus: Fare you well, my darling, fare you well, my dear Fare you well, my darling, I hate to leave you here. See the engine coming, coming around the bend, Puffing and a whistling, with a load of soldier men. chorus If I die a railroad man, bury me beneath the tie, So I can hear old Number 9 as she goes rolling by. chorus When I go to Germany, I'll hear the cannons roar Fare you well, my darling, I'll think of you no more chorus Now I'm going to Germany, I won't be back till fall And if I see the Kaiser, I won't be back at all chorus I am listening to the record "The Railroad In Folksong" right now and I am listening to the song and taking the words from the song that you thought they were and it had a few differences. If you want the record, just look in record shops, or get on Ebay.com and look. |
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13 Dec 07 - 06:45 PM (#2214877) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: Joe Offer That's an interesting discovery, Mr. Happy. The DT Song is #35 H (John Hardy) from Folk-Songs of the South, by John Harrington Cox (1925). The song was contributed by Profesor J.H. Combs, West Virginia University, April 30, 1924. Obtained in Knott County, Kentucky. I'd never seen a mixing of "John Hardy" and "John Henry," but Cox cites several examples. But at the end of #35 H, there are the two verses Mr. Happy cites:
Go bury me under the tie, So I can hear old Number Four, As she goes rolling by." "If I die a railroad man, Go bury me under the sand, With my pick and shovel at my head and feet And a nine-pound hammer in my hand" -Joe- The Tenneva Ramblers transcription from 12-Stringer is exactly what I hear on the recording at Honking Duck. |
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25 Apr 13 - 08:32 AM (#3508630) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: GUEST I had the RCA Victor Railroad in Folksong album as I child and I adored it. But as an English boy I couldn't understand the accents and I thought the song went: Railroad is smellin' Frog upon the track. Oh dear! |
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25 Apr 13 - 06:52 PM (#3508895) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: If I Die A Railroad Man From: Jim Dixon I just listened to The Tenneva Ramblers' recording of IF I DIE A RAILROAD MAN, via Spotify. It's on CD "D" in the various-artists 4-CD set "Worried Blues," but I figure it must ultimately come from the same original 78-rpm recording that both 12-stringer and Jonathan Hewlett transcribed above. The only point where the two transcriptions differ is verse 1, line 2, and I must say I agree with 12-stringer, not Mr. Hewlett. By the way, I figure "Cuby" is a dialectical or local pronunciation of "Cuba" and probably refers to one of the American towns named after the island in the Caribbean. There are towns named Cuba in Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, and West Virginia. |