Ghost Train

I just love train songs, especially when they include hobos.

Thanks cosnorgin. I agree. Trains have a universal mystique, no matter where they run.
I created separate pages just for train and trucking songs:

Train Songs:
http://www.kingwoodkowboy.com/trainsongs.html

Trucking Songs:
http://www.kingwoodkowboy.com/truckingsongs.html

Island Songs:
http://www.kingwoodkowboy.com/islandsonglyrics1.html

Always been fascinated by the railways myself....probably growing up in a town that was built around the railways did that. And yeah, I'm a sucker for train songs too!

:D :D :D

Vic

Howdy Vic Lewis. growing up in a town that was built around the railways
Your town has more train history than any over here. I have only one question.
What are hobos called in Newton-le-Willows in merry 'ol England?

Here's your train station.

The first locomotive built at the Vulcan yard was in 1833.
Note: #6273 was the last steam locomotive tested at Vulcan Foundry on 13th January 1956)

I'm not really sure what you'd call a hobo over here - vagrant? tramp? But our hobos (whatever you want to call them!) don't have the same "ridin' the rails" imagery associated with them - possibly because the towns and cities are so close together it's not that much of a hike to the next one!

BTW, it's Earlestown Station that's the oldest in the world - Earlestown being a suburb of Newton-le-Willows. And about 7-8 miles away is Widnes, where a guy by the name of Paul Simon sat on a bench at the station and wrote "Homeward Bound" - there used to be a plaque on the wall, but it's been vandalised so many times it's been taken down now. Shame!

:D :D :D

Vic

Vic, here's some details I found about "Homeward Bound". It's the opposite of any hobo's "Outward Bound".

Homeward Bound
Written by Paul on 'his tour of 'one night stands' in England in September 1965. 'If you know Widnes, then you'll understand how I was desperately trying to get back to London as quickly as possible. "Homeward Bound" came out of that feeling.' 'I remember playing a concert somewhere in the middle of Germany. It's strange enough to be in Germany, and when I finished playing, I was thinking, I hate Homeward Bound And then I thought, Why do I hate it ? I said "Oh, I hate the words." So I went over them. And then I remembered where I wrote it. I was in Liverpool, actually in a railway station. I'd just played a little folk job. The job of a folk singer in those days was to be Bob Dylan. You had to be a poet. That's what they wanted. And I thought that was a drag. And I wanted to get home to my girlfriend, Kathy in London. I was 22. And then I thought, Well, that's not a bad song at all for a 22-year-old kid. It's actually quite touching now that I see it. So I wonder what's so embarrassing to me about it. Then I said, "I know! It's that I don't want to be singing that song as Simon and Garfunkel!"'

Homeward Bound

I'm sitting in the railway station.
Got a ticket for my destination.
On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand.
And ev'ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Ev'ry day's an endless stream
Of cigarettes and magazines.
And each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories
And ev'ry stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be,
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Tonight I'll sing my songs again,
I'll play the game and pretend.
But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Silently for me.