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about

Hobo Bill's Last Ride was written by Jimmie "The Singing Brakeman" Rodgers (1897-1933). Jimmie Rogers is widely accepted as the father of country music. He worked on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, where he learned to pick and strum from rail workers and hobos. Legend has it that Goebel Reeves taught him to yodel.

lyrics

C F C
Riding on an eastbound freight train
F C
Speeding through the night
F C
Hobo Bill, a railroad bum
D7 G7
Was fighting for his life
C F C
The sadness of his eyes revealed
F C
The torture of his soul
F C
He raised a weak and weary hand
G C
To brush away the cold

G C
Hobo Bill

No warm lights flickered around him
No blankets there to fold
Nothing but the howling wind
And the driving rain so cold
When he heard a whistle blowing
In a dreamy kind of way
The hobo seemed contented
For he smiled there where he lay

Outside, the rain was falling
On that lonesome boxcar door
But the little form of Hobo Bill
Lay still upon the floor
While the train sped through the darkness
And the raging storm outside
No one knew that Hobo Bill
Was taking his last ride

It was early in the morning
When they raised that hobo's head
The smile still lingered on his face
But Hobo Bill was dead
There was no mother's longing
To soothe his weary soul
For he was just a railroad bum
Who died out in the cold

credits

from The Kitchen Chorus Songbook, released November 9, 2011

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about

Joe Vickers Drumheller, Alberta

Farmer by day, troubadour by night, Joe Vickers has logged countless miles on both his combine and tour van. His music explores the human spirit singing of the triumphs and tragedies of everyday life on the prairies.

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