Expert: Mel Priddle - 3/30/2009

Question
My dad use to sing this song.... It talks about getting out of prison and trying to get home and these are the only lyrics that I know of it.

I stepped up to the conductor to give him a line of talk
He said if you can show me money son I'll see that you don't walk
I haven't got a nickle or a pennie to show
Get off, get off you railroad bum and slammed the boxcar door.

Answer
Hello Cindy,

That's the 1929 Jimmie Rodgers song, "Waiting For A Train". It has been recorded several times over the years since then by the likes of Stonewall Jackson, Boz Scaggs, Jim Reeves, and Jerry Lee Lewis.


All around the water tank
Waiting for a train
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain

I walked up to a brakeman
Just to give him a line of talk
Well, he said, "If you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk"

Well, I haven't got a nickel
Not a penny can I show
"Get off, get off, you railroad bum"
And he slammed the boxcar door

He put me off in Texas
A State I dearly love
Wide open spaces all around me
And the moon and stars above

Nobody seems to want me
Or to lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco
Going back to Dixie Land

Yes, my pocketbook is empty
And my heart is filled with pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Just waiting for a train


Have a look at these links.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbzc77Tz6PA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42WsWb0ssdQ&feature=related


Glad to be of help. Cheers.........Mel.