I was born in Dixie in a boomer's shack   Just a little shanty by the railroad track   Freight train was it taught me how to cry   The holler of the driver was my lullaby      I've got the freight train blues   Oh, lawdy mama got 'em   On the bottom of my ramblin' shoes   And when the whistle blows, I gotta go   Baby, don't you know   It looks like I'm never gonna lose   The freight train blues      Well, my daddy was a fireman and my mama hear   She was the only daughter of the engineer   My sweetheart loved the brakeman and that ain't no joke   It's a shame the way she keeps a good man broke      I got the freight train blues   Oh, lawdy mama got 'em   On the bottom of my ramblin' shoes   And when the whistle blows, I gotta go   Oh, mama don't you know   Well it looks like I'm never gonna lose   The freight train blues      Well, the only thing that makes you laugh again   Is a south bound whistle on a south bound train   Every place I want to go   I never can go because you know      Because I got the freight train blues   Oh, lawdy mama got 'em   On the bottom of my ramblin' shoes