HOBO LIFE
(DAVE McCARN)
This song written by McCarn for his second session for Victor [Memphis, TN, Nov 19, 1930], is similar in tune and text to the more well-known RAILROAD BOOMER.A hobo song containing the usual warnings against taking up the hobo life but with the usual braggadocio that hobos were a breed apart.
Mike Paris, liner notes for "Singers of the Piedmont,", Folk Variety FV 15505, 1970s.
Traveled o'er the earth for ages,
I've crossed the waters deep and wide;
I never thought to save my wages
Till the sweetest part of life rolled by.
I never had a thought to marry,
I never even had a girl.
I only thought of roaming yonder,
To the other side of the world.
I never had a happy moment,
I roamed around all my life
The best of my days I wasted,
I'll never have a loving wife.
I'm standing on a long steel railroad,
But I'm moving on today.
I hear a freight train a-coming,
I'll soon be on my way.
I never like to ask a favor,
But remember me when I die,
And bury me beside a railroad track
So I can hear the trains roll by.When you take a rambling fever,
Don't you ever start to roam,
But go to work and save your money,
And you'll always have a home.
Don't be a tired and hungry hobo
Always on the long steel rail.
You'll have to sleep beneath the shade trees
You'll have to sleep in dirty jails.
You'll never have a happy moment,
You'll always be on the pad;
When you get old and grizzled,
What you've missed will make you sad.
Now take my advice, young fella,
And don't you take the road to trouble.
For I hear a freight train a-coming,
I'll soon be rolling along.
I never like to ask a favor,
But remember when I die
And bury me beside a railroad track
So I can hear the trains go by.
