Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Day 225 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
Sandburg writes: "The Goulds and the Vanderbilts were big names in railroading in the 1880's. Daughters in both families found their way into railroad and hobo songs. . . .
The "blind" baggage car, with a platform but no front door, hooked on just back of the engine tender, was a place bums rode; engine crews sometimes gave them hot water. . . .
Smoke, dust, gravel, get into the nose and eyes, and grind into the skin of those riding the rods under a box car or in the trucks of a passenger coach; loosening a hold or going to sleep means death. . . .
The same tune goes for Jay Gould's daughter and that train wreck ballad On The Charlie So Long (B). Both texts are from the collection of John Lomax while the tune is from the singing of Mrs. Lomax."
Day 225 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
Sandburg writes: "The Goulds and the Vanderbilts were big names in railroading in the 1880's. Daughters in both families found their way into railroad and hobo songs. . . .
The "blind" baggage car, with a platform but no front door, hooked on just back of the engine tender, was a place bums rode; engine crews sometimes gave them hot water. . . .
Smoke, dust, gravel, get into the nose and eyes, and grind into the skin of those riding the rods under a box car or in the trucks of a passenger coach; loosening a hold or going to sleep means death. . . .
The same tune goes for Jay Gould's daughter and that train wreck ballad On The Charlie So Long (B). Both texts are from the collection of John Lomax while the tune is from the singing of Mrs. Lomax."
