Clifton Hicks - Old Reuben (Train 45)

Banjo Heritage 👉   / cliftonhicks  
I learned this old banjo song from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. My version borrows heavily from Gibson and a 1950s tape recording of William "Banjo Bill" Cornett.

My instrument is an 1888 Thompson & Odell "The Luscomb" banjo tuned ≈ f♯DF♯AD.

Old Reuben old Reuben
Old Reuben you must have drunk,
You must have been drunk when you pawned off that trunk
Just to get your woman out of jail

Old Reuben had a train ran from Hell to Betsy Layne
And I'd like to be a driver on that line,
The longest train I ever saw ran down that Brown Cove Line,
The fastest train I ever saw carried away that woman of mine

Me and my woman had a little falling out
She bundled up her clothes to leave,
Then she stepped on that 2 o'clock train
Honey I stepped right onto the 3

If you say yes we'll get married I guess
I'll sidetrack my train and roll home,
But if you say no I will railroad no more
I'll pack up my grip and be gone

That freight train derailed on a Saturday night
And it killed that good woman of mine,
They found her head in a driving wheel
Her body has never been found - poor girl!

The day I left my mother's house
Was the day that I left my home,
And the day you turned your back on me
Was the day that you lost your best friend

If I had wings like Noah's dove
I would fly to my true love's home,
I'd walk the porch from post to post
I'd hang down my little head and moan

He turned to his black greasy fireman and said
Boy just shovel on a little bit more coal,
They shoveled on the coal that engine did roll
They was 500 miles from their home

Them long steel rails them short crossties
I'm walking my way to my home.

Also known as "Old Reuben," "Reuben's Train," "Train 45," "500 Miles," "900 Miles,' "Goodbye Honey You Call That Gone," and many other titles.

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