lp discography - covers & lyrics

1.

THROUGH A CRACK IN A BOXCAR DOOR

(Red Steagall)
« © '68 Texas Red Songs, BMI »
Long black engine keeps a rollin' along the wheels goin' clickety clack
She's carrying me towards that eastern seaboard Louisiana I ain't a coming back

And I sit all alone in an empty box listenin' to the engine roar
And I see the world as she oughta be seen through the crack in this boxcar door

A hobo's life is a lonely life and I'm a restless son of a gun
So I'll keep ridin' these ribbons of steel and wait for my setting sun

And I sit all alone in an empty box...

Engineer is a pullin' her down I reckon we're gonna stop
And I'll be dodging that man with the stick I hear him a walking on top

And I sit all alone in an empty box...

Now some folks think I'm a crazy man and all other boes like me
But I'll let them battle the woes of the world and I'll die happy and free

And I reckon I'll die in an empty box listenin' to the engine roar
I'll take a long last look at the world that I love through a crack in this boxcar door
**********

2.

DETROIT CITY

(Mel Tillis - Danny Dill)
« © '63 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
And I dreamed about those cottonfields and home
I dreamed about my mother dear old papa sister and brother
I dreamed about that girl who's been waitin' for so long

I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home

Homefolks think I'm big in Detroit City
Cause from the letters that I write they think I'm fine
But by day I make the cars and by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines

Cause you know I took a freight train north to Detroit City
And after all these years I find that I've just been wastin' my time
So I think I'll just take my foolish pride and put on a Southbound freight and ride
And go on back to the loved ones yes the ones that I left waiting so far behind

I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home
I wanna go home I wanna go home I wanna go home
**********

3.

RAILROAD BUM

(J.A. Balthrop)
« © '61 Tree Publishing, BMI »
I used to be a railroad bum a living on the go
I rode freights from Canada down to Mexico
From sunny Cal to Minnesotta where the rippling waters fall
I never seemed to have a dime but I had myself a ball

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo
I used to be a railroad bum always on the go

I walked in the Silver Dollar in Reno one night
Dropped a quarter in a one armed bandit the lemons lined up right
Took my winnings then played poker and I won ten thousand more
I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo
I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore
[ guitar ] When cotton's white in Tennessee and shrimp boats sail in Maine
Peach picking time soon will find me ridin' a Georgia train
I get restless when I'm still I guess I always will
I wanna keep travelin' all of my life over another hill

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo
I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore
**********

4.

WANDERLUST

(Teri Thornton)
« © '68 Little Darlin Music, BMI »
There's that old restless feeling running cross my mind again
Causin' me I wanna wander off today
And that air of curiosity is lurking in the wind
Giving all my wanderlust the right away

I've spent time in the country and I've spent money in the town
I've been through them all a hundred times or more
They have a lots of things to offer if I ever settle down
But my wanderlust keeps walking through the door

So please don't try to stop me it just has to be this way
If I could I wouldn't change the way I am

So come old restless feeling push me out into the world
Show me all then things I'm curious to see
Though I'm always tired and happy when I round another bend
I'll just stay till I can rest and start again
Yes I'll just stay till I can rest and start again
**********

5.

FIVE MILES SOUTH OF NOWHERE

(Bob Montgomery - Fred Carter)
« © '68 Tree Publishing, BMI »
I'm five miles south of nowhere and I'm a singin' a sad sad song
All I've got is a wornout thumb to help carry me home

Well I hopped me a northbound freight car cause the quiet had got me down
I didn't know they could be so cold to strangers here in this town

I couldn't find a job here I just couldn't to save my soul
these ole clothes are gettin' mighty thin and these northern nights are gettin' cold

And I'm five miles south of nowhere..
[ dobro ] I tried not to get downhearted but there's no hope in sight
Cause I walk the streets in the daytime and I walk the floor at night

So I'm out here on this highway and those city lights are far behind
I ain't left nothin' in that ole town that could ever make me change my mind

And I'm five miles south of nowhere..
**********

6.

HOME IS IN MY SHOES

(Nancie Matz - Annette Tucker)
« © '68 Pomona Music, BMI »
My town has one population and it never grows
It's not bound to one location anywhere it goes
Taking just what I can carry green grass is my bed
Life is extraordinary on the road ahead

Home is where my heart is happy always doin' what I choose
Home is where my feet may wander my home is in my shoes

Now I don't ever stop to look behind me
And no one but the winds could ever find me
Cause I've gone on a long vacation to the great unknown
Freedom is my destination there's no place like home

Home is where my heart is happy...

I gotta keep on a movin' I gotta keep on a walkin'
My home is in my shoes
I gotta keep on a movin' I gotta keep on a walkin'
**********

7.

CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINE

(Bill Eldridge - Gary Stewart)
« © '68 Forrest Hills Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
Left the cotton and tobacco the red clay and the pines
It's a long way to where I'm going from Charlotte North Caroline

I wanna see Charlotte Charlotte that hometown of mine
Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte North Caroline

Got on a boat in Frisco headin' for the war
The boys on board are bettin' we won't see home no more

I wanna see Charlotte...
[ dobro ] Soon I'll be fightin' with the men I must destroy
Oh please have mercy on this poor Caroline boy

I wanna see Charlotte...

Now if my days are numbered I ask before they're gone
Oh Lord don't let me die so far away from home

I wanna see Charlotte...
**********

8.

KING OF THE ROAD

(Roger Miller)
« © '64 Tree Publishing, BMI »
(King of the road)

Trailers for sale or rent rooms to left for fifty cents
No phone no pool no pets I ain't got no cigarettes
Ah but two hours of pushing broom buys a eight by twelve four bit room
I'm a man of means by no means king of the road

Third bocxcar midnight train destination Bangor Maine
Old worn out suit and shoes I don't pay no union dues
I smoke old stogies that I have found short but not too big around
I'm a man of means by no means king of the road
I know every engineer on every train
And all of their children and all of their names
And every handout in every town
And every lock that ain't locked when no one's around

I sing trailers for sale or rent...
Trailers for sale or rent...
**********

9.

I'VE WONDERED WHERE SHE'S BEEN

(Scott Turner - Laurel Hanson)
« © '68 Unart Catalog, BMI »
Those freight cars rolling slow don't know I'm lonesome
As I sit and watch them creepin' slowly by
From my window here in back looking down that railroad track
I hear them click and clack they're wondering why

I'll bet my friends all say she was a vision
A dream I thought I'd seen when there was none
Once I saw her walking there headin' down the track somewhere
Her glowing golden hair lost in the sun

And I know she'll be coming back again
Walking slow she will hear me cry and then
I will go to her and say how I'll show her everyday
I've loved her so and I've wondered where she's been
[ dobro ] When work is done I sit here by my window
I stay here till the day is just a gleam
When the sounds of hurtin' night echo in the fading light
I wonder if it's right to love a dream

And the whistle of a train remains my signal
I stare off into where the freight has gone
But the rails join in the west and my heart's the loneliest
It says I should have guessed we'd be alone

And I know she'll be coming back again...
**********

10.

I WANNA GO BUMMIN' AROUND

(Sonny Curtis)
« © '68 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing, BMI »
I can't get along in this big city
I gotta move on it's a shame and pity
But I wanna go bummin' around one more time
I can't make it in your kinda world
And that's too bad cause you're my kinda girl
But I wanna go bummin' around one more time

I can't hold a job I never learned to do big city things
I wanna go back to where I don't have to act like a big city machine
You'll find folks don' take much to me
And I'm givin' you back to what I can't be
I'm gonna go bummin' around one more time

I don't blame you for tryin' to change me into something I can't be
But noisy city streets and cold party crowds just don't seem natural to me
Down at the highway there's a disel goin' my way
And I'm gonna add myself to the load
I love you I really do but I've gotta hit the road

I've got to be free from what you call that big city scene
so run me down to the edge of town in your city limousine
Let's go now you'll find folks don' take much to me
And I'm givin' you back to what I can't be
I'm gonna go bummin' around one more time
I'm gonna go bummin' around one more time
**********

11.

GOOD MORNING ROSEANNA

(Larry Murray)
« © '68 Aoulette Music, BMI »
This mornin' finds me knockin' on your window pane
With a bag across my shoulder with my odds and ends and things
Well I just blew in from Houston I've been runnin' down the wind
Good morning Roseanna I'm back again

The sidewalks wore my boot heels down I've been blinded by the neon lights
I lost my hat in Baltimore a runnin' from a fight
Well alone is my companion I know it like a friend
Good morning Roseanna I'm back again
[ guitar ] To say I hadn't missed you babe would be a lowdown lie
Caught myself a wishin' that I had wings to fly
Right back to your doorstep where my pathway always ends
Good morning Roseanna I'm back again
**********

12.

LAST RIDE

(Ted Daffan - Robert Holcomb)
« © '59 Hank's Music, BMI »
In the Dodge City yards of the Santa Fe stood a freight made up for the East
And the engineer with his oil and waste was grooming the great iron beast
While ten cars back in the murky dust a boxcar door swung wide
And a hobo lifted his pal aboard to start on his last long ride

A lantern swung and the freight pulled out the engine it gathered speed
The engineer pulled the throttle wide and clucked to his fiery steed
Ten cars back in the empty box a hobo rolled a pill
The flare of the match showed his partner's face stark white and deathly still

As the train wheels clicked on the coupling joints a song for the rambler's ear
The hobo talked to the still white form his pal for many a year
For a mighty long time we've rambled Jack with the luck of men that roam
With the backdoor steps for a dining room and a boxcar for a home

We dodged the bulls on the Eastern route and the cops on the Chesapeake
We traveled the Leadville narrow gauge in the days of Cripple Creek
We drifted down through sunny Cal on the rails of that old SP
And of all you had through good and bad a half always belonged to me

You made me promise to you Jack if I lived and you cashed in
To take you back to the old churchyard and bury you there with your kin
You seemed to know that I would keep my word for you said that I was wiser
Well I'm keepin' my promise to you pal cause I'm takin' you home tonight

I haven't the money to send you there so I'm takin' you back on the fly
It's the decent way for a 'bo to go home to the by and by
I knew that fever had you Jack and that doctor just wouldn't come
He was too busy treatin' the wealthy folks to doctor a worn out bum

As the train rolled over its ribbons of steel straight to the East it sped
The engineer in his highcab seat kept his eyes on the rails ahead
While ten cars back in the empty box a lonely hobo sighed
For the days of old and his pal so cold who was takin' his last long ride
**********