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Blues Lyrics - King Solomon Hill
The Gone Dead Train
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by
King Solomom Hill
recording of ca. January 1932, Crafton, Wisconsin
from
Backwoods Blues (Document DOCD 5036)
And I'm goin'
way down
Winden
Lord, I'm gonna try to leave here today
Tell 'em I believe I'll find my way
And that train is just that way
Gotta go on that train
I said I'd even broke my
jaw
job
Boys, if you out and runnin' around in this world this train will wreck your mind
(Spoken: Your life, too)
Lord, I once was a
hobo
I crossed a many a point
But I decided I'd go down the frog
travelin' light
And take it as it comes
(Spoken: I reckon' you know the fireman and the engineer would, too)
There are so many people have gone down today
And this fast train north and southern traveling light and clear
Oooo-ooh, I wanna ride your train
I said, "Look here, engineer, can I ride your train?"
He said, "Look here, you oughta know this train ain't mine and you're asking me in vain"
Said, "You go to the Western Union, you might get a chance"
(Spoken: I didn't know the Western Union run no train)
Said, "You go to the Western Union, you might get a chance"
You might get wire to some of your people and your fare will be sent right ahere
(Spoken: Hadn't thought that's the way it is)
I wanna go home, and that train is done gone dead
I wanna go, that train is done gone dead
I done lost my
wife and my three little children, and my mother's sick in bed
Oooo-ooh please, help me win my fare
'Cause I'm a travelin' man, boys I can't stay here
__________
Note: this is King Solomon Hill's most well known and mysterious single. It is a dark tune about the hard life of a
hobo
making his way on the rails. Hill also told his contemporaries that the song is about a "Death Train" which killed several people. Hill uses his falsetto to create an apocalyptic atmosphere. He used a cow-bone to improvise a very unique slide on the guitar;
Note 1: on the record, Hill sings the lyrics "goin' Winden". Other contemporaries of his, who heard the recording, say that its "goin' way down". Hill probably meant the to sing that he was "going to
Minden
" to catch the train. Minden is a Louisiana town about 30 miles east from
Shreveport
. His contemporaries remembered variations of this song known as "The Minden Train Song". Hill spent much of his life in
Sibley
, a small town 3 miles below Minden. He lived in the black community around King Solomon Hill Baptist Church, from which he took his recording name. His real name was Joe Holmes;
Note 2: point, railroad terminology for a railroad switch, the tip of the angle between two rails in a railroad frog (frog, see note 3). Alternate text: "pome" instead of "point" according to Websters dictionary a pome is a fruit. According to Gayle Wardlow's research this stood for "palm";
Note 3: frog, railroad terminology for a device permitting the wheels on one rail of a track to cross an intersecting rail. Alternate text: "I'd go down to
Fryeburg
light" instead of "I'd go down the frog travelin' light". That would be a reference to traveling without any money to
Fryeburg
, Louisiana. Fryeburg is a small village about 15 miles south of Minden;
Note 4: Hill told contemporaries that this lyric stood for the people who had lost their lives because of this "Death Train";
Note 5: traveling light and clear, alternate text: "fell their lives in claim"
Note 6: lost my wife and children, alternate text "lied to my wife and children".
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