In the City Yards of the Santa Fe Stood a made up for the east And the with his oil and waste Was the great iron beast While ten cars back in the dust A boxcar door wide And a hobo his pal aboard To start on his last long
A lantern and the freight pulled out The engine, it gathered The engineer pulled the wide And clucked to his steed
Ten cars in the empty box The rolled a pill The flare of the showed his partner's face white and deathly still As the train clicked on the couplin' joints A song for the ear The hobo talked to the still form His pal for many a
(Spoken) For a mighty time, we've rambled, Jack With the luck of men that With the backdoor steps for a dining And a for a home We dodged the bulls on the route And the on the Chesapeake We the Leadville narrow gauge In the days of Cripple We drifted down thru Cal On the of that old S. P. And of all you had, thru and bad A half belonged to me You me promise to you Jack If I lived, and you in To take you back to the old yard And bury you there with kin You seemed to know I keep my word 'Cause you said I was right Well, I'm keepin' my to you, pal I'm takin' you home tonight I the money to send you there So, I'm takin' you on the fly It's the way for a 'bo to go to the by and by I knew that fever had you, Jack And that doctor, he just wouldn't He was too treatin' the wealthy folks To doctor a bum
As the train over its ribbons of steel Straight to the East it sped The engineer in his cab seat Kept his eye on the ahead While ten back in the empty box A lonely sighed For the of old and his pal, so cold Who was takin' his last long