greatly enjoying the immortal 1969 Same Train, A Different Time: Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers by Merle Haggard & the Strangers

WAITING FOR A TRAIN
words and music by Jimmie Rodgers
1929


All around the water tank
Waiting For a train,
A thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain,

I walked up to a brakeman
To give him a line of talk,
He says "If you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk."

I haven't got a nickel
Not a penny can I show
He said "Get off you railroad bum",
And he slammed the box car door.

He put me off in Texas
A place I surely love,
Wide open spaces 'round me
The moon and stars above.

Nobody seems to want me
Or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco,
Goin back to Dixieland.

My pocket book is empty,
And my heart is filled with pain,
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Just waiting for a train.