In the Dodge City of the Santa Fe Stood a freight up for the east And the engineer his oil and waste Was the great iron beast While ten cars back in the murky A boxcar door swung And a hobo lifted his pal To on his last long ride
A lantern and the freight pulled out The engine, it gathered The engineer the throttle wide And clucked to his steed
Ten cars back in the box The hobo a pill The of the match showed his partner's face Stark and deathly still As the train wheels clicked on the joints A for the rambler's ear The hobo to the still white form His pal for many a
(Spoken) For a mighty long time, we've rambled, the luck of men that roam With the backdoor steps for a room And a boxcar for a We the bulls on the Eastern route And the on the Chesapeake We travelled the Leadville gauge In the days of Cripple We drifted down thru Cal On the rails of old S. P. And of all you had, thru and bad A half always to me You made me promise to you If I lived, and you in To take you back to the old yard And bury you there your kin You seemed to know I keep my word you said that 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 you back on the fly the decent 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 busy treatin' the wealthy To doctor a bum
As the train rolled its ribbons of steel Straight to the East it sped The in his high cab seat Kept his eye on the rails While ten cars back in the box A lonely sighed For the days of old and his pal, so Who was takin' his long ride