THE TRAIN THAT CARRIED MY GIRL FROM TOWN (trad./arranged & adapted by Doc Watson)

Song lyrics on these pages only for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis

Original recording by Frank Hutchinson, New York, NY, Sep 28, 1926 (801444-A; issued as Okeh 45064),
reissued on "White Country Blues" (CD), (Sony/Columbia COL 472886 2, 1993)

Ever since I can remember hearing music on our family's graphophone, I've heard this tune. Frank Hutchinson is the guy who did the record of "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town;" he tuned the guitar to an open D and played it with a bottle neck or pocket knife. But I decided that if you get a thumb pick or two in your pocket, you are toting enough junk around, so I just fret the thing in an open tuning with my finger and occasionally throw in a bar or two.
"The Train That Carried My Girl From Town" can be done in any number of ways. My son, Merle, and I are thinking of recording a bluegrass version at a faster clip. On the twelve-string it's also fun; it really gives the song a lot of drive and gives you a feeling of a big old locomotive going down the track -- the way they used to sound.
Doc Watson, as quoted in The Songs of Doc Watson, New York, NY, 1971, p. 29

Lyrics as performed by Doc Watson at Newport Folk Festival 1963;
released on OLDTIME MUSIC AT NEWPORT (1964) (LP) and other compilation albums
transcribed by Manfred Helfert, 1997
Additional lyrics (in italics) as reprinted in The Songs of Doc Watson,, New York, NY, 1971, pp. 30-31

Where was you when the train left town?
I's standin' on the corner with my head hung down.
Hey, the train carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

SPOKEN: That's kinda the way she sounded when she's rollin' away from the depot...

If I had a gun I'd let the hammer down,
Lord, I'd shoot that rounder took my girl from town.
Hey, that train that carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

There goes the train that carried my girl from town;
If I knowed her number, Lord, I'd flag her down.
Hey, the train carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Rations on the table and the coffee's gettin' cold,
And some dirty rounder stole my jelly roll.
Hey, the train carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Hello, Central, give me six-o-nine,
I want to talk to that woman of mine.
Hey, that train that carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

I wish to the Lord that the train would wreck,
Kill that engineer and break the fireman's neck.
Hey, that train done carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

SPOKEN: Rollin' on down the line...

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,
Show me the woman that a man can trust.
Hey, that train that carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

There goes my girl, somebody bring her back,
'Cause she's got her hand in my money sack.
Hey, that train carried my girl from town,
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

SPOKEN: This is kinda way that train went when she went outa hearin'...

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