Waiting For a Train (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer waits to hop a train. A brakeman tells him that if he has money "I'll see that you don't walk," then puts him off the train in Texas. "My pocketbook is empty/And my heart is filled with pain/I'm a thousand miles away from home/Waiting for a train"
AUTHOR: Jimmie Rodgers
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a hobo, is out in the rain waiting for a train to hop. A brakeman tells him that if he has money "I'll see that you don't walk." He has no money; the brakeman slams the boxcar door, then puts him off the train in Texas. "My pocketbook is empty/And my heart is filled with pain/I'm a thousand miles away from home/Waiting for a train"
KEYWORDS: loneliness poverty rejection rambling train travel hobo
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "Waiting for a Train" (Diva 6031, c. 1930)
Riley Puckett, "Waiting for a Train" (Columbia 15408-D, 1929)
Bud Reed, "Waiting for a Train" (on Reeds1)
Hoke Rice, "Waiting for a Train" (Champion 15767/QRS 9012, 1929)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Waiting for a Train" (Victor V-40014, 1929)
Ed (Jake) West, "Waiting for a Train" (Broadway 8109, c. 1931)
Harry Wilson, "Waiting for the Train" (Perfect 12556, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum)" (subject, a few lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me (recorded by Mississippi John Hurt)
Notes: This composed song seems to be moving into oral tradition, both Anglo- and Afro-American (blues singer Furry Lewis used to perform it); Mississippi John Hurt used its melody for "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me." - PJS
File: RcWFAT2
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