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28 Oct 98 - 12:07 AM (#43485) Subject: All Around the Water Tank From: Bojangles Does anyone have the words to this great old Jimmie Rodgers song? It does not seem to be in the database. Thank you very much..in advance. Bo..
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28 Oct 98 - 12:58 AM (#43489) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Gene Try THE COWPIE! Waiting for a Train *GO COWPIE* |
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28 Oct 98 - 04:48 PM (#43519) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: dick greenhaus Try Danville Girl for a slightly different version. |
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30 Oct 98 - 11:09 PM (#43736) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Bojangles Here's part of it. Please correct my errors:
All around the water tank waitin'for a train
He dropped me off in Texas. A state I dearly love Can anyone carry on from here? |
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04 Jun 09 - 11:18 PM (#2648733) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: GUEST,vehni All around the water tank, just a standin' in the rain, A thousand miles away from home, just a waitin' for a train. So I walked up to the conductor, just to hand him a line o' talk, He said, "Boy if you've got money, I'll see that you don't walk". Well I haven't got a nickel, not a penney can I show, "Get off, get off, you railroad bum!", and he slammed the boxcar door. Well, he put me off in Texas, 'tis the state I dearly love, Wide open spaces around me, and the moon and the stars above. But I haven't got a nickel, not a penney to my name. A thousand miles away from home, just a waitin' for a train.. |
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04 Jun 09 - 11:29 PM (#2648741) Subject: Lyr/Chord Add: WAITING FOR A TRAIN (Jimmie Rodgers From: Amos WAITING FOR A TRAIN Words and music by Jimmie Rodgers 1929 F C7 F F7 All around the water tank Bb Bbm F Waiting for a train Bb F Dm A thousand miles away from home G7 C7 Sleeping in the rain F C7 F I walked up to a brakeman F7 Bb Bbm F To give him a line of talk Bb F He says, "If you've got money G7 C7 F I'll see that you don't walk" C7 F I haven't got a nickel F7 Bb A7 Not a penny can I show Bb F He said get off, you railroad bum G7 C7 F And he slammed the boxcar door (Yodel) F C7 F C7 F C7 F C7 F He put me off in Texas, F7 Bb Bbm F A place I surely love, Bb F Wide open spaces 'round me, G7 C7 The moon and stars above. F C7 F Nobody seems to want me F7 Bb Bbm F Or lend me a helping hand. Bb F I'm on my way from Frisco, G7 C7 F Goin' back to Dixieland. C7 F My pocket book is empty F7 Bb A7 And my heart is filled with pain. Bb F I'm a thousand miles away from home, G7 C7 F Just waiting for a train. (Yodel) |
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04 Jun 09 - 11:32 PM (#2648745) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: katlaughing Ah, I can just *hear* Art Thieme's wonderful rendition of this. |
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05 Jun 09 - 12:06 AM (#2648753) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Tyke All around the Water Tank just waiting for a Train Ten Thousand miles away from home just sleeping in the rain. Well I went up to a break man to give him a line of talk. He said if you've got money, I see that you don't walk. Well I haven't got a nickel not a penny could I show. Get off! Get off you railroad Bum! And he slammed the Boxcar door! Yodel a eee a eee a eee He put me off in Texas a State I dearly love Wide open spaces all around me and the moon and stars up above. Well no one seems to want me or lend me a helping hand. I'm on my way from Frisco 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 waiting for a train. D G DG Em A DG DG Em A The Yodel is D A D OK so you can't Yodel Then ask for volunteers Or give the entire audience a quick Yodelling lesson. You) Knock Knock! Who's there? You) Little Old lady! And the Answer is? |
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05 Jun 09 - 09:33 AM (#2649014) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: NOMADMan Here are the words transcribed from a Jim Reeves single, about 1957. Only slight variations from those already posted. The flip side of this was "Am I Losing You?" All around a water tank, waitin' for a train A thousand miles away from home, sleepin' in the rain I walked up to a brakeman to give him a line of talk He said, "If you've got money, I'll see that you don't walk." "I haven't got a nickel; not a penny can I show." "Get off, get off, you railroad bum;" he slammed the boxcar door Well, he put me off at Texas, the state I dearly love The wide open spaces all around me, the moon and stars up above Nobody seems to want me, or lend me a helping hand I'm on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixie land My pocketbook is empty, my heart is full of pain I'm a thousand miles away from home, waitin' for a train Regards, John |
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05 Jun 09 - 07:47 PM (#2649508) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Art Thieme Stone County Arkansan, Glenn Ohrlin, used to sing a great and quite different version of this song that he got from his friend and neighbor named Sam Hess. I always preferred it to Jimmie's song. It's in my collection somewhere. I hope I can find it.---Glenn put it on an LP put out by Archie Green and the Folklore Society at the University Of Illinois about 1960 or '61. Also, there was another different version collected in Iowa from a woman named Mrs Dogle-Manning -- but I can't recall her first name. We will see... Art |
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05 Jun 09 - 11:26 PM (#2649655) Subject: Lyr Add: SAM'S WAITING FOR A TRAIN (from G Ohrlin) From: NOMADMan Art, Thanks for reminding us about the Glenn Ohrlin song. I have a copy of that LP here. Here are the words to what Glenn calls "Sam's Waiting for a Train." I was born and raised in Texas, a state that you all know, I got on that Katy train, so cold I could hardly go, I rode down to Memphis, and I got off to warm, Looked out for that Katy train, but the Katy train was gone. They left me standing on a platform a-waiting for a train, So cold and hungry I lay down, my heart was filled with pain, I'm thinking of those good old days, I wish they'd come again, A thousand miles away from home trying to catch an old freight train. I went up to a lady and I asked for something to eat, A little piece of bread and a little piece of meat, A little piece of punkin pie would soothe my appetite. I aim to ride that old freight train a thousand miles tonight. Well, I went up to Kansas, I didn't go to stay, I fell in love with some Kansas girls and I had to run away, Goodbye to all you Kansas folks, I'll bid you all adieu, And when that old freight train runs out I'll see no more of you. They left me standing on a platform, a-waiting for a train, So cold and hungry I lay down, my heart was filled with pain, I'm thinking of those good old days, I wish they'd come again, A thousand miles away from home, trying to catch an old freight train. Here are Glenn's comments: "Suppose a lot of you are familiar with the songs of Jimmie Rodgers, I mean the Jimmie Rodgers that died in 1933. I mean, he's still well-liked, and they still put out albums of his songs. One of my favorites of his was 'Waiting for a Train.' But one of my old neighbors down in the Ozarks - Sam Hess - he's got a ranch down there and a bunch of cattle, and he's past 80 years old, plays the banjo and sings, he knows an older version of the same song. I call it 'Sam's Waiting for a Train.' There ain't no yodeling. I can't yodel anyway." (tape 12/14/63) "When you pick up stuff because you enjoy it you generally forget most other considerations about it. But I do remember, in fact, on the song ballet Sam wrote for me I marked it at the time, that Sam learned that song from Levi Morris, the brother of Neal Morris and Jimmie Driftwood's uncle. Jimmie sang it last Friday night at the courthouse and said 'Here's one my dad used to sing.'... Sometimes when Sam sings it, it ends with the words 'I aim to ride that old hog train a thousand miles tonight.' Then he laughs when he says 'hog train.' To date the song - Sam said he hadn't played a banjo for 40 years when he started playing it again this year. Oh yes - Sam calls it 'that old freight train song." (Letter 5/11/64) Note - there was a pop singer named Jimmie Rodgers active in the late '50s (Remember "Honeycomb?") That's probably the reason for Ohrlin's comment "I mean the Jimmie Rodgers that died in 1933" to distinguish him from the more current performer of the same name. Regards, John |
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06 Jun 09 - 12:13 AM (#2649669) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Art Thieme Hey, John--- What a fine job you've done on that vivid old version. Thanks so much. I did just find the song and was planning to put it here but procrastinated. But you done done it--and I appreciate it. I recorded another song that Glenn had on that grand album --- Jock Coleman's song "The Big Combine" is included on the first LP (now a CD) that I did for Sandy Paton at his Folk Legacy Records. It paints a glorious picture in a nice small frame and it would be perfect for hanging on the wall of a museum. On seeing it, you'd know that you had just been given a precious glimpse into the lives of the harvesting crew on that Big Combine as it was pulled through the wheat by 50 or so horses near the town of Pilot Rock in the state of Oregon. I was glad the Folk Society taped Glenn's concert for them---and then made it available. All the best, Art Thieme |
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06 Jun 09 - 01:45 AM (#2649681) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Jon Bartlett Here's a version, again earlier than the Rogers set, I found in the Gordon Collection (Gordon 1720) at the Library of Congress: HOBO SONG All around the water tank, Waiting for that train, All tired out and hungry From sleeping in the rain; My heart was filled with sorrow, My days are filled with pain; Five thousand miles away from home, Nobody knew my name. I stepped up to that brakeman To hand him a line of talk, He says, "If you got that money, son, I'll see that you don't walk." My pocket book was empty, Not a penny could I show; "Get off, get off," that brakeman said, Arid slammed that box car door. He put me off at Denver, Got stuck on a Denver girl, You know she was all right, For she wore that Denver curl. She was pretty as a picture, She was dressed in the fashion too; But when that train pulled out, boys, I bade that girl adieu. From there I went to Albuquerque, And I meant to stay a while, But the bulls they got my number, And I had to hit th' spile. I dropped down to El Paso, But they also knew me there, The Judge said,"30 days or leave" And I had to take the air. I hopped on board a rattler, And beat it across the state, They threw me off at Corsicana, And there I met my fate. I woke up in the hospital, I was minus of a leg, Now that I can roam no more To live I have to beg. Terrell McKay San Antonio, TX, Apr 5, 1926 (Learned from men around the oil wells.) From accompanying correspondence from Gordon to Terrell McKay, 1 June 1926: "…The Hobo Song. – I have fragments of this, a number from negroes, but no version as complete as yours. Thank you! The last line you quote and other lines is some of the scraps I've picked up lead me to think it was often used as a begging song. It must have started with a humble author and then been made over many times. It sounds to me like a genuine "hobo" song." Verse 3 has elements, as Dick Greenhaus pointed out, of "The Danville Girl". Whether we have here two songs that merged, or two songs that came out of one original, I don't know. I note the the set above includes lines from McClintock's "Great American Bum", though he may well have incorporated (as we know he did with "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum") popular material he didn't himself create. I supsect that most "bum" or "Hobo" songs have this Protean characteristic. I have to say I like Gordon's set: I wonder if anyone ever recorded it? Jon Bartlett |
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06 Jun 09 - 03:18 PM (#2650104) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: Art Thieme Jon, Whew, talk about a hard as nails view into another time and place. We can't travel in time yet, but with songs like these, we've got the next best thing. Here is the other version of this good song. It's from Mrs. Thomas Dogel Manning in Iowa--USA. I found it in a book called Folklore Of Iowa --- 1936. I am in your city, boys, trying to do what's right, And you need not think, because I am poor, that I am not alright, My pocketbook is empty, my heart is filled with pain, I'm a thousand miles away from home trying to bum the train. Down at the water tank waiting for a train, Cold and hungry, I lay down--though it is in vain, Thinking of those good old times---I hope they come again, I'm a thousand miles away from home trying to bum the train. I went down to the brakeman and we had a little drink, Say, if you have any money, sir, you will not have to walk. No money or no ticket, sir, pity me, I am poor. Get out, get out, the brakeman said, And he slammed the boxcar door. I went down to the restaurant to get a bite to eat, Got a little piece of bread, and a little bite of meat, A piece of apple pie to suit my apatite, I'm going to ride the flying rails a thousand miles tonight. I stopped off in Denver and got stuck on a Danville girl,I am glad tonight she is out of sight--she wore those Denver curls, She wore her hair up top of her head in the same old fashion too, Just as the train came whizzing by, I kissed my love adieu. Art Thieme |
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06 Jun 09 - 04:15 PM (#2650162) Subject: RE: All Around the Water Tank From: maple_leaf_boy I have the country fake book volume 4, with the tune for this song. The chords that Amos has are the same chords I use, but I think it's slightly different in the fake book. I could write the tune in guitar tab form if you'd like that as well. If the notes are too high for you to sing in F, i find that the key of C works well, plus it's easier to play it in C. |