I was born in Dixie in a boomer shack
Just a little shanty by the railroad track
The humming of the engine was my lullaby
And a freight train whistle taught me how to cry
I got the freight train blues
Got them in the bottom of my ramblin' shoes
And when the whistle blows I gotta go
Oh! Lordy! Guess I'm never gonna lose
The freight train blues
My daddy was a fireman and my mummy dear
Was the only daughter of an engineer
My sweetie is a brakemann, and it ain't no joke,
It's a shame the way he keeps a good gal broke.
I got the freight train blues
Got them in the bottom of my ramblin' shoes
And when the whistle blows I gotta go
Oh! Lordy! Guess I'm never gonna lose
The freight train blues
Aero planes and autos always leave me cold
The morning of a steamboatnever stirs my soul
The only thing that makes me want to navigate
Is a wildcat whistle on a southbound freight
I got the freight train blues
Got them in the bottom of my ramblin' shoes
And when the whistle blows I gotta go
Oh! Lordy! Guess I'm never gonna lose
The freight train blues