ON THE TRAIL OF NEGRO FOLK-SONGS

A Collection Of Negro Traditional & Folk Songs with Sheet Music Lyrics & Commentaries - online book

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	RAILROAD SONGS	253
	much smaller target as well; at least, the Mississippi Negroes so re­port, as Lemuel Hall tells me. Railroad Bill got so fine He shot a hole in a silver dime. Railroad Bill, Railroad Bill, Railroad Bill got sore eyes, An' won't eat nothin' but apple pies. The Negro sees in a train, not merely a temptation to travel, not simply a chance of a job, not only an engine of destruction or a force to tear him from persons he loves, not merely a witness of his joys and woes: he sees in it a symbol of spiritual life as well. The Negro is essentially religious, and his imagination is easily fired by the thought of eternity, the Judgment Day and the like, of destiny and doom. And so he frequently hitches them to his engine and starts another train of thought. The train may stand (or run, perhaps one should say) as the symbol of cheer, or of despair, according as the singer entertains hope of a fortunate outcome of the final testing. An old song sent by Lincolnia C. Morgan, one of the Fisk Jubilee singers, and now supervisor of music in the Negro schools of Dallas, Texas, is of the first type. THE TRAIN IS A-COMING
	The train is a-coming, oh, yes! Train is a-coming, oh, yes! Train is a-coming, train is a-corning, Train is a-coming, oh, yes! Better get your ticket, oh, yes! Better get your ticket, oh, yes! Better get your ticket, better get your ticket, Better get your ticket, oh, yes! King Jesus is conductor, oh, yes! King Jesus is conductor, oh, yes I King Jesus is conductor, King Jesus is conductor, King Jesus is conductor, oh, yes I