Freight Train Blues

Hank Williams

Written by John Lair

Key of C · Chords: I II V

Verse 1

  C
I was born in Dixie in a boomer shack
                            G7       C
Just a little shanty by the railroad track
The humming of the driver was my lullaby
                                   G7     C
And a freight train whistle taught me how to cry

Verse 2

  C
I got the freight train blues Lawdy Lawdy
                          D7 G7
Got them in the bottom of my rambling shoes
    C                                 C7
And when the whistle blows I gotta Oh Lawdy
Guess I’m never gonna lose the freight train blues

Verse 3

   C
My daddy was a fireman and my mammy dear
                         G7  C
Was the only daughter of the engineer
My sweetie is a brakeman and that ain’t no joke
                                 G7   C
It’s a shame the way she keeps a good man broke

Verse 4

Aeroplanes and autos always leave me cold
The moaning of a steamboat never stirs my soul
The only thing that makes me want to navigate
Is a wildcat whistle on a south bound freight

Verse 5

I know I’m old enough to quit this running round
I’ve tried a hundred times to stop and settle down
But every time I find a place I’d like to stay
I hear a freight train holler and I’m on my way