HOBO SONG
(learned in the 1960s from Tom Aley and Tom Juster, two versions)
All around the watertank, a-waiting for a train,
A thousand miles away from home, standing in the rain.
I walked up to a brakeman, to give him a load 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.
He said, Get off, you railroad bum, and slammed the boxcar door.
He put me off in Texas, a land I dearly love,
The wide open space around me, the moon and stars above.
Nobody seemed to want me, or lend me a helpin' hand,
I'm on my way from Frisco, back to Dixieland,
My pocketbook is empty, my heart is full of pain,
A thousand miles away from home, just a-standing in the rain.
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)