photo by sarah hawker

REUBEN'S TRAIN
Traditional, arranged by Debra Clifford.
Note: Played on a Kevin Enoch Fretless Banjo

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Oh Reuben's coming down the track and he's got his throttle back

and the rails are a carryin' him from home

If the boiler don't bust cause it's eat up with rust

I'll soon be a long way from home

If you don't believe I'm gone, look at the train I'm on

you can hear the whistle blow a thousand miles

I'm going down the track I ain't never coming back

and I'll never get no letter from my home

Well the train run so fast 'til I knowed it couldn't last

for the wheels was a burnin' up the rail

Old Reuben had a wreck and it broke old Reuben's neck

but it never hurt no hair on my head.

I got myself a blade, laid Reuben in the shade

I'm starting me a graveyard of my own

Oh me, oh my, I'm starting me a graveyard of my own